Small Businesses See Fewer Customers Than Expected

PITTSBURGH — Despite the NFL record 805,000 people at this year’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, some businesses outside the North Shore and Point State Park say they saw far fewer customers than expected. At Roland’s Seafood Grill in the Strip District, staff spent weeks preparing for a surge. “A lot of planning, we brought a lot of extra people in, we were an all-hands-on-deck operation,” said manager Eric Fennelo. Despite the preparation, Fennelo said business did not meet expectations. “It was slow. It seems like the anticipation of the crowds coming in from outside kept the locals away,” he said. Other nearby businesses reported similar experiences. At PGH Sports, owner Marie Lee said she stocked up on merchandise ahead of the draft. “We planned a lot of things to get ready and I thought, I don’t have enough merchandise for the draft,” Lee said. Now, she is trying to sell off leftover apparel. “Actually, I lost money on it,” she said. Fennelo believes the event’s footprint limited traffic to other neighborhoods. “It was a disappointment,” he said. “Everything got bottlenecked into the North Shore, so we didn’t get the travelers coming in as we had predicted.”