Move-in day in Laramie is fast approaching and Laramie is gearing up for University of Wyoming students to return to town for the start of the fall semester.

Businesses are getting ready for the influx of students, who make up a significant portion of the town’s population during the school year.

8 Bytes Game Café is one such business. Co-owner and manager Ryan Kiser said 8 Bytes is preparing for student’s return in a few different ways, including planning gaming, music and art events.

“In particular, to try to catch the big incoming class of freshmen, on move-in day we are actually going to go around and try to catch the students and invite them to come play arcade games for free that day,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser said 8 Bytes will also be offering ‘mocktails,’ or virgin cocktails, in order to cater to the students who aren’t old enough to enjoy the game café’s alcoholic beverages. Kaiser said the café will also be adding new games to its collection, including a newly released Star Wars pinball game.

“We’re excited for round two, for our second year,” Kaiser said. “We learned a lot in our first year and we are happy to try and improve our services.”

Brown and Gold Outlet Owner and Manager Matt Lehning said his business definitely sees a difference in traffic during the school year after students return.

“You start to get more people in town and of course with all the excitement right now around UW athletics,” Lehning said. “It’s great to have the students back.”

Lehning said the Brown and Gold Outlet has started stocking all its new apparel in anticipation of the start of the school year.

“It’s just that time of year,” Lehning said. “All of our products are starting to arrive and we are getting new stuff pretty much every day.”

Turtle Rock Coffee and Cafe is positioned on 9th Street, directly across the UW campus. Manager Ashlyn Courtwright said Turtle Rock definitely experiences an uptick in business once the school year starts. Courtwright said the cafe is hiring new employees to handle to wave of students coming into Laramie.

"We also just had a 'barista training refresher' to get everyone back on their 'A' game," Courtwright said.

The Laramie Police Department said that with the return of UW students, the Laramie PD is anticipating an increase in certain kinds of calls.

“We see increase calls for traffic incidents, crashes and things like that. We start to see an uptick in loud party and noise complaints,” said Laramie Police Chief Dale Stalder. “We certainly deal a lot with parking around UW when UW students come back. Those are the three prime areas where we start to see a shift in our call load.”

UW move-in day is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 28 starting at 7 a.m. Classes begin on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

 

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