Pro Cycling Challenge Impacts Local Economy

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge is over, and now some business owners in Colorado Springs said they are trying to make up the revenue lost on race day. Other merchants said it helped their sales.

Jack Roth, with the Smoking Gift Headquarters, said he had high hopes for more clients during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge on Friday. Some store owners in Old Colorado City had bad experiences last year, and said they decided to close up shop for race day, but Roth stayed open, and it didn’t pay off.

“We had sales, but they were probably 35% to 40% lower than an average Friday. We just had no people,” said Roth.

Roth also said that the only people cheering on the cyclists in Old Colorado City were shop owners themselves.

In the downtown area results were different for some. Overall, restaurant owners said they did well, while most clothing and shoe retailers said there were less sales.

The owner of Buttercup’s Frozen Yogurt said that his business did better during the evening hours compared to a regular Friday.

“We had a few more people in. Obviously, during the day there were less people downtown. I think people headed out of work early on, but in the evening we did great in terms of sales,” said Joshua Mitchell, owner of Buttercup’s

One business owner in the downtown area said that sometimes the benefits to events like the Pro Cycling Challenge are delayed. For example, people come in look around, and might not buy anything that day, but will come back later.