State tourism officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of visitors viewed the eclipse in Nebraska, a count that businesses say helped deliver a potent boost in sales.
“Sunday we got crushed,’’ said David Wacker, manager of Brewsky’s Food & Spirits in Lincoln’s Haymarket.
He said sales were triple those of a typical Sunday. On Monday the restaurant did double the sales for lunch, he said.
A sampling of other Nebraska businesses in the path of totality also indicated that the eclipse lifted sales.
Angela Sears of the Nebraska Tourism Commission said the organization is still calculating a more specific estimate of the visitor count, along with the economic impact of the eclipse. The commission will make those figures public this fall.
Sears said media coverage promoting Nebraska as a prime location to view the eclipse provided millions of dollars in free publicity for the state. The Tourism Commission estimates the advertising value at more than $133 million.
The commission’s website experienced a 30 percent increase in traffic this month, compared with last August, as visitors searched for places to go.
Nebraska businesses say they served customers from across the country, as well as Europe and other parts of the world.
Whitetail Screen Print in North Platte sold more than 1,500 T-shirts from Saturday through Monday, record business for a three-day period.
The shop even had customers waiting outside the store at 8 a.m. Tuesday before the regular 10 a.m. opening.
Shae Caldwell, who owns the shop with her husband, said she opened early and started printing shirt designs for the customers, including one from Denmark.
“It’s been crazy,’’ she said. “We met so many amazing people.”
Megan McGown, spokeswoman for the North Platte Area Chamber and Development Corp., said she’s heard from other businesses that the eclipse increased sales.
Matt Redecker, general manager of Ken & Dale’s Restaurant in Alliance, estimated that he fed a couple of thousand people Sunday and Monday, with a line out the door.
He said eclipse business probably set a record for the restaurant, which has been open about 25 years.
Terry Alexander, an employee at Schulenberg Bakery in Falls City, said more than 250 people poured through the door Monday, loading up on doughnuts and coffee.
Amber Holle, executive director of the Falls City Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday that the eclipse brought good business to the community. The chamber learned that firsthand by selling out of more than 1,100 eclipse T-shirts it offered as a fundraiser.
“People were still calling today to try to get shirts.’’
