With Little 500 just around the corner, local businesses in Bloomington are gearing up for the busy weekend.
Indiana University's Little 500, titled “The World’s Greatest College Weekend,” includes both a women’s and men’s bike race. This year, the women’s race is slated for April 25, and the men’s race is set for April 26. With the rush of IU fans, alumni and students flocking to campus, Bloomington shops and restaurants are anticipating a spike in business.
Savannah Sater is one of the managers at Greetings on Kirkwood, an IU apparel shop, and the granddaughter of the owners. She has worked at the store since 2016 and has taken on managerial duties since 2021.
“I would say it’s definitely busier,” Sater said. “All the bars are always super busy, which makes us a lot busier, and then also I think a lot of alumni come into town.”
Greetings does not sell anything specific to the Little 500, but Sater said people are still looking for regular Indiana merchandise, making sales increase during Little 500 weekend.
Compared to regular weekends and even weekends when there are home basketball games, the store is busier during the Little 500, Sater said. However, she said Little 500 weekend is similar to, if not a tad less busy than, a standard home football weekend. The highest attendance for a football game last season was 53,082 people, which meant a sold-out stadium. On such busy weekends, Greetings makes sure to call in a few extra employees.
“It’s good for our business,” Sater said. “I think all the employees kind of like when it’s busier just because time goes by faster and it’s just kind of fun.”
Emma Macabee, general manager of the Village Deli, said this year the Little 500 weekend will be a little different for the restaurant. That is because Kirkwood Avenue has been closed off to vehicles since early April and will not open back up until early November of this year, giving restaurants an opportunity to set up outdoor dining. The road was not closed last year due to construction projects.
“Now that it is closed, I feel like we’ll be busier than last year,” Macabee said. “More people are inclined to come downtown when you can just walk to and from bars, sit outside, have more seating.”
Macabee said typically the day of the women’s race is much busier for the restaurant than a normal Friday. Due to this, she says she will likely schedule as many workers on the Friday of the women’s race as she would on a usual weekend, which are generally the busiest times for the restaurant. The men’s race on Saturday, she said, may be slower than their normal weekend rush but will likely still be busier than that Friday.
Along with increasing staff, the restaurant will also nearly double its standard food preparation.
Macabee added that this is the restaurant’s first year having a liquor license, so that will be a different experience for the restaurant during this year’s Little 500 weekend. She said the restaurant normally does not get a very drunk crowd because they close at 3 p.m. every day. However, she said, it will be interesting to see if that changes now that they are able to sell alcohol. Despite the larger rushes, she said the Little 500 weekend tends to be fun, and the staff at the Village Deli enjoy it.
Jay Wilkin was the general manager of Tracks Bloomington, a vinyl record and IU apparel shop, from 2009 to 2024. He is now a consultant for the current owners of the shop.
For Tracks, Wilkin said, business during Little 500 weekend is comparable to a home basketball weekend but is less busy than a home football weekend. However, Tracks sells Little 500 specific merchandise, which Wilkin said generally sells well and has already sold well during qualifications weekend this year. Qualifications for the Little 500 took place on Saturday, March 29.
“Anything that creates some excitement and puts some people in town, and it’s spring, it’s nice, it’s always good,” Wilkin said. “It’s just the increase in traffic and the kind of general happy mood buzz, whatever you want to call it, is just good for business.”
