At about 3 p.m. on every school day, many WIS students take a quick seven minute walk down to Connecticut Avenue and visit one of the many businesses located on that bustling street.
A survey sent out to the WIS community shows that about 38 percent of students spend $1-$5 on Connecticut Avenue each week. That means that your average WIS student could spend close to $200 at these businesses every year.
According to the survey, the most popular businesses for WIS students are CVS and Chipotle, large national chains. But, other small businesses such as Fresh Med and Firehook attract many WIS students.
Students who participate in extracurricular activities and stay later after school are more likely to spend large amounts of money on Connecticut Avenue.
“I spend a ridiculous amount of money on Connecticut during basketball season,” 9th grader Liam Byrne said, “If I were to save all that money I could probably buy one of the restaurants!”
Fresh Med is one of the businesses that WIS students live by. You can get great food for under $5 and there are big tables where students can hang out and talk.
“I appreciate [WIS students] positive energy and good manners,” said Saleem Adimi, Fresh Med’s manager, “It is always good for business to have WIS customers”.
Vace Italian Delicatessen is also a very important business in the WIS community. Yes, it is a fairly popular after-school destination for students. But, it’s real importance at WIS is every Thursday, when WIS orders over 30 pizzas to serve for lunch on the famous “pizza day”. This makes WIS one of Vace’s biggest clients as they give Vace a huge order every single week.
Along with all these positives WIS brings to the Connecticut Avenue businesses, there are also some negatives. For example, some stores are suspicious that WIS students have issues with shoplifting, especially CVS and 7-Eleven, as students have been asked to empty their pockets in these stores multiple times. Also students sometimes disrespect other businesses by making messes in restaurants and not cleaning up.
The relationship between WIS students and Connecticut businesses tends to be mutual. The businesses may not survive without WIS students, and WIS students couldn’t survive without these businesses.
By Saul Pink
