Returning students bombard retailers

Swarms of students and parents pillaged stores Wednesday, pumping dollars into local businesses as the class of 2009 settled into their new homes.\nSupermarkets, restaurants and general retailers from Kirkwood Avenue to College Mall have taken on the hoards of kids and their credit card-wielding parents with increasing frequency throughout the week, according to managers and employees throughout the city.\n"We're definitely busy," said Melissa Burnett, a sales associate at Urban Outfitters on Kirkwood Avenue. "We've had people coming in and out all day."\nThe clothing and housewares store had a row of red and black "rib leisure" chairs and racks of colorful clothing at sale prices displayed to draw people in, Burnett said. She thought the store had more employees working to deal with packs of students, but wasn't sure because it was her first day back from summer.\nThe Den is another downtown merchant that had cash registers clinking. People riffled through racks of red and white T-shirt emblazoned with IU logos. \n"We started seeing some increases with some students' leases starting Aug. 1, but business really started to jump up last weekend," said Jim Cushing, a manager at The Den. "Lots of poster and T-shirt sales."\nNo poster in town was safe as students snatched up images of puppies, The Beatles and everything in between at Kirkwood stores.\nSome local executives, including managers at Wal-Mart and Target, couldn't even spare a moment to talk about how busy they were. One Target manager said Wednesday was the busiest day of the year for the College Mall store.\nCarey Pittman, front bartender at Nick's English Hut, also barely had time for talk. Pittman spoke quickly while rushing back and forth behind the bar to quench customers' thirst.\n"Business picks up," Pittman said, while walking away to take an order. "We don't have any more people working than any home football weekends."\nEssential, such as frozen pizza, Gatorade and boxes of pasta, were snatched up at the Marsh supermarket on Kinser Pike while parents took their kids out for one last "good" meal. \n"The first day when everyone really started coming back, it was really hectic. But now \neveryone's gotten used to it," said Tricia Kinney, floor manager at Scotty's Brewhouse. "It's been incredibly busy."\nThe staff at Scotty's is pulling in long hours to keep up its service, and six more employees than usual were working Wednesday night to keep the burgers coming, she added. \n"It's a lot of moms and dads dropping their kids off," Kinney said. "But we've also seen a lot of people who lived in town all summer and just decided to come when everyone got back"