Restaurants Rejoice As Final Four Fans Fill Downtown Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WCCO) -- Even before Friday's NCAA Women's Final Four games tipped off at Target Center, a victory had been declared across the street; the event had been successful in filling the house.
"We've been planning for this weekend for a couple months," Glueck's owner Dave Holcomb said. "We've got everybody on, like our whole staff is here this whole weekend."
Holcomb says over the course of the past two years, the restaurant would be near empty for stretches at a time. On Friday, it was full, primarily with out-of-town guests.
"This is all visitors mostly. I would imagine 75% of the crowd is maybe from out of town," he said.
Across the street, more of the same was happening at Kieran's Irish Pub.
"We're the closest (to Target Center)," general manager Brad Johnson said. "We'll take (the customers)."
Projections ahead of the Women's Final Four estimated the weekend would bring tens of millions of dollars in economic impact.
"It's been great. It's been good seeing all the faces, whether they're new faces or people coming in that have been coming here for a while," Johnson said. "It's been really good coming back and just kind of seeing everybody."