Local business owners are adapting to a sudden increase in sales as thousands of MSU students return to East Lansing for the fall semester.

Joe Orlowski, store director at Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, 515 E. Grand River Ave., said he looks forward to students returning each year.

"It's overwhelming, but at the same time it's high energy," Orlowski said. "It just keeps going. This is what you live for, is the fall. You live for the excitement and the rush of people running around going crazy."

Pat McNamara was one of many students visiting various stores on Grand River Avenue Thursday afternoon.

The humanities and pre-law freshman lugged bags full of textbooks from the Student Book Store, 421 E. Grand River Ave.

"It's easy because we don't have cars or anything," he said. "Everything's just on Grand River."

Mechanical engineering freshman Kalyn Cookingham agrees.

"It's a good walking distance," she said. "They're close enough in this whole strip. You can hit everything at once."

Part of the increase in business comes from students decorating their dorm rooms with a variety of posters, lights and furniture.

Tom Page, manager of Beyond the Wall, 225 E. Grand River Ave., said 90 percent of his store's poster sales are attributed to students.

Page said he cuts back on staff over the summer because of slow business.

"We just kind of slide by until fall," he said. "Summer's very unprofitable for us."

Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing director of planning and community development, said it's not uncommon for business to be slower in the summer.

"When the students are here, they're a significant purchasing power," he said. "In the summer months, there are probably only a third of as many students around taking classes.

"For the next nine months, it's going to be the hub of business activity," van Ravensway said.

He added the downtown area is popular for students because of proximity.

"You just see this sudden boom, and that's what everybody seems to gear for," van Ravensway said. "They see it in the streets, they see it in the sidewalks, they see it in the stores.

"And you know, it's great, the city really comes alive at that point."

At Steve & Barry's, Orlowski is gearing up for his ninth fall semester by readying his inventory and staff.

"We do prepare for it all summer and say, 'You guys have to be really quick at this,'" Orlowski said. "Quick and on your toes."