The installation of new junior housing at Washington and Lee University this year has provided W&L third-years with new and improved living facilities, a coffee/alcohol/tea bar, a yoga studio, and a consistently updated catalog of hot meals from Fieldside restaurant that can be found right outside their doors.

Although this new addition is beneficial to third-years who used to live off campus, it has had a negative effect on some local food businesses in Lexington. For instance, since the construction of the third-year housing at W&L, the manager of Macados, CJ Wallace, has noticed a huge decline in the number of W&L customers that eat food there.

“It’s a noticeable decrease,” said Wallace. “W&L caters to them [students] 24/7, so they don’t have to go out.”

In order to attract students, Macados has spiced up its menu to suit W&L students.

“We’ve just become more friendly, trying to offer school-themed menu items,” said Wallace.

Mason Grist, a third-year at W&L, lived on campus last year, but eats less off of campus now than he did the year before.

“I did live on campus last year, and took my M-F meals at my fraternity house. On weekends, my friends and I usually ate in Lexington,” said Grist. “This year, I would say I might eat less often in Lexington on weekends, but at the same time, I have been eating in town more frequently during the week.”

Some businesses, though, have noticed no decline. In fact, Brenda Gregg, co-owner of Blue Sky Bakery along with her husband, Mike Gregg, has continued to see Blue Sky’s usualy large flow of W&L students, contrary to Macados.

“Initially when I heard about [new junior housing] I thought that it would affect our business, because they do have a nice restaurant up there, and I  mean, W&L’s dining service is pretty nice anyway,” said Gregg. “I mean, they [W&L] do a really good job. But I’ve looked at the numbers for this month and it really hasn’t affected it, which is good. I mean, the kids are wanting to be outside and wanting to venture out while the weather’s nice, so that might tend to bring them downtown more, whereas in the winter, they might be more holed up and closer the home.”

Annie Jeckovich, a third-year at W&L spends a lot of time on campus, so her usual stop for lunch is at Blue Sky Bakery, not far from campus.

“I’m actually eating in town more, especially during lunchtime. We won’t go back [to junior housing] because it’s a long walk. And I’m on campus from eight to five, so this [Blue Sky Bakery] is my lunch break,” said Jeckovich. “So, I’m on campus a lot and [I have] been eating in town a lot, too. At the very beginning, everybody’s eating [at junior housing], becuase it’s really fun and new, but then it’s ‘Mecicoop’ we call it, for six weeks straight, and it’s kind of old, so I haven’t eaten there in a while. But it’s easy and super convenient and very good, so people do eat there.”

Just across town from Blue Sky, the owner of Tong Dynasty, Hoi Tong, has used this “super convenient” third-year housing to his advantage, catering food to students that order online.

“We started delivering there now,” said Tong. “We used to do a buffet, so now we have turned to the menu, so I think more people like it. After we remodeled, we got a lot more W&L customers.”

Levi Throckmorton, manager of the Palms has also noticed an increase in the number of W&L students buying from them.

“There definitely has been an increase in W&L students that have been joining our restaurant for dinner or for lunch,” said Throckmorton. “I’m not sure if that’s down to the new housing or not, or if that’s to just the increase in the amount of business we are doing.”

Executive Director of Main Street Lexington (MSL), Stephanie Wilkinson, leads MSL in a mission to make downtown Lexington ‘the most attractive, interesting, and economically vibrant place to be’ for tourists, students, and residents. MSL does this through the many events it hosts such as the Christmas Parade, Sidewalk Sales, and Restaurant Weeks.

“We support local businesses and encourage new businesses through a merchants’ support and promotion group, business education seminars, assistance with grant programs, and marketing and advertising co-operatives,” said Wilkinson. “We help our businesses put together cooperative ads in places like the Roanoke Times and Edible Blue Ridge. In the meantime, the only thing that our businesses can do is do what they do to the best of their ability, to constantly try new things, test new avenues of growth, and to perfect their product mic and quality of customer service. Keep on continually improving.”