When students leave Bowling Green for the summer, businesses downtown are affected by their absence.

With less students attending the University in the summer, many businesses find themselves with less shoppers. The summer session lacks in comparison to the fall and spring for many businesses.

It can be hard for a business during the summer when most of their customers are here during the fall and spring, said senior Christopher Miller.

“They are affected because students are their main customers,” Miller said. “I believe businesses try to attract customers with flyers and sales.”

Some businesses try to use more advertising, deals and promotions as incentives to attract new customers.

The owner of the Cla-Zel, Ammar Mufleh, said he uses many methods of advertising and promotion to reach out to a broader audience in the community, which includes students staying in town for the summer.

Using various types of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, the Cla-Zel is able to advertise upcoming events.

“We give away free tickets to regional concerts in Detroit and Cleveland, and bring in special guest DJs from New York and Los Angeles, which brings in more regional people,” Mufleh said.

The Cla-Zel also does many promotions with KISS FM 92.5, widening the range of advertising and reaching an even larger audience.

As a multi-entertainment facility, the Cla-Zel offers a variety of other possibilities, which operate outside student involvement, such as wedding receptions and corporate events. The promotions along with social media advertising help the Cla-Zel make up for the decrease in customers over the summer.

Downtown Bowling Green is an organization that promotes the downtown business district. Barbara Ruland, the director of Downtown Bowling Green, offers promotions to help counteract the loss of student customers. Some of the promotions include the Classics on Main Car Show, Summer Sidewalk Sales and the Downtown Farmers’ Market. These promotions are available to the community and cater to businesses that have to work harder to promote themselves during the summer.

“We started the Downtown Farmers’ Market in 2010 to bring a little more interest to downtown during the Summer months, among other reasons,” Ruland said. “Going into our fourth year, the Market is really becoming a vital part of the community. It works as both a gathering place and a market place and we’re very pleased to have BGSU’s support of it.”

The Market starts next Wednesday and runs every Wednesday from four to eight P.M. until October 16. It’s in the Huntington lot at Clough and Court, right across the street from Lola’s Yogurt, said Ruland.