Students and other members of the UCLA community constitute a large portion of the customers in Westwood Village, but business owners differ on how their importance to them has changed over the years.
Michael Montobbio, general manager of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery, who has been in Westwood six months, said he has been experiencing steady business and that UCLA students constitute up to 40 percent of his total customers.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship. (Students) are definitely important for us but we are a nice place for them to go to,” Montobbio said.
BJ’s is closely tied with the UCLA community because it donates food for different campus organizations and participates in Bruin Night Out, when students can enjoy discounted dinner in Westwood during Blue and Gold Week, Montobbio said.
These events, along with a general flow of student costumers, has made the BJ’s in Westwood a viable business compared to the chain’s other locations, Montobbio said.
While BJ’s is part of a much larger conglomerate, smaller businesses also rely on UCLA students for success.
Courtney Morse, assistant manager of Monica’s Boutique, said that students are not only the largest demographic of their customers, but several Bruins are also employed at the store.
The boutique often partners up with sororities to host private shopping parties and holds trunk shows in which it offers merchandise at discounted prices.
“I guess we’re more in touch with what college students would want and their price range,” Morse said.
Morse also said that the Westwood store does much better compared to its other location in Manhattan Beach.
Stan Berman, owner of Stan’s Donuts, and long-time Village resident, also said students have been essential to the success of his donut shop but said business has reduced since UCLA opened competing restaurants and coffee shops on campus.
“(The university has) a donut shop on campus … They have pizzas. They have restaurants that stay open until midnight or later. They have a whole retail world up there. … I’m not happy with the university,” Berman said.
The negative impact of university businesses is seen not only through fewer students visiting the shop, but also through lower amounts of flour consumption because fewer donuts are produced daily, Berman said.
He added that university businesses are hard to compete with because, unlike most businesses which have different types of costs, their only costs are those associated directly with food production, and those costs are state-funded because UCLA is a public school.
“Before, I would give the campus 150 dozen donuts a day at a discounted price. Now I don’t sell one donut on campus,” Berman said.
Berman also said that there are a large number of vacancies in Westwood, which have increased over time, and are generally uncharacteristic of any business community so close to a college campus.
While Berman said university retail has affected business in Westwood overall, a number of other factors also affect student buying power.
Lee Ohanian, a professor of economics, said students “are more sensitive” to changes in the economy because they will not have large savings accounts unlike people who have spent decades in the workforce.
“A lot of students are living closer to the margin,” Ohanian said, adding that small changes in tuition rates or student loans will greatly impact student spending.
Some Westwood businesses also noticed other factors which affect how often students spend money in the Village.
Montobbio said BJ’s generally has more student business after a victorious game.
Indeed, Ohanian said the overall culture of Westwood Village is student-driven; because students generally spend most of their money on entertainment, the Village holds a large number of food and clothing businesses.