SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Dedicated and casual fans are all back for Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend.
“I’m super excited like I’ve already gotten some merch. Already tried on some other stuff. Actually, this is my first Comic-Con,” Jane Vines, who was visiting from Alabama, said.
“I wouldn’t have missed it," Andy Holt, who visiting from Orange County, said with his mascot in hand. "Scree, are you excited to be here? He’s excited. Really, he is.”
Those who are also excited for comic con’s return are the businesses who are a stone’s throw, or a Thor’s hammer throw, away from the convention center.
“Comic-Con has always been a major money maker for all of the businesses here from all the way down on Market Street and all of that stuff,” Sherman Schoate, the General Manager at Cerveza Jack’s,” said. “Having them back, even if it’s on a smaller scale, is huge for us.”
Having them back means out-of-town money being spent back into the local economy in places like hotels, restaurants and other local and small businesses.
“If my husband is watching this, not a whole lot! But, yeah, probably around 500 or something like that,” Vines said.
“Yeah, the hotel was expensive! Yeah, a few hundred bucks,” Holt said.
It may be a smaller Comic-Con than in years past. But, having the event is better than not having it.
“So we’re hoping to see at least a 20 percent increase if at all possible. So far so good,” Schoate said.
What’s also good is what the return embodies.
Daniel Fitzgerald, the regional director for the San Diego and Imperial Small Business Development Center told ABC 10News this brings more than just money to the area.
“It’s a symbol not just to the business community here in San Diego that conventions are back. But, also to conventions across the country," Fitzgerald said. “And, that it’s fine to come to San Diego and it’s fine to come and spend dollars here.”
Fitzgerald said this being a holiday weekend with dedicated shopping says can help boost revenue for these local businesses on top of comic con happening.
