"It's incredible," said Emad Lubbad, who runs International Delights on 9th Street in Durham. "We serve all of them, and they frequent our businesses and we build relationships with them, and it's an incredible blessing."
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The popular Duke hangout was seeing the impacts in full force Sunday night, as waves of freshmen filtered in with orientation leaders.
"You see parents coming in with their kids, trying to move them in, trying to help them scope out different nice areas for them to eat. it's awesome, you just feel the energy in the city rumbling," said Lubbad.
It's a similar story on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.
"It's like instantly, on one weekend, we'll be completely dead for a whole week, and then boom, that weekend, move-in weekend, it's like, fill up the restaurant, hour-long waits," said Eric Emerine, assistant GM at Carolina Brewery.
Emerine said the restaurant's numbers can double from the dog days of summer to the start of football and the school year.
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In Raleigh, Glenwood Ave businesses said they're seeing the same thing.
"We're ready for it, we're definitely ready for it. We wanna pick up business, Glenwood picks up just in general, atmosphere picks up, everyone gets happy," said James Willingham, assistant GM of the Hibernian.
Down the block, Anthony DeMarco said the summer offers his employees a breather, but they're ready to ramp things back up.
"You get the summer off and give everyone a little time to recharge, rest up, and then when schools start back up, everybody knows it hammer time until the holidays," DeMarco said.
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