Commerce was a central theme at the rally with booths lining the
entirety of San Benito Street from South to Fourth streets.
Before the Hollister Motorcycle Rally hit Hollister this weekend, restaurants stocked up on food, bars stocked up on beer and the city stocked up on T-shirts.
They all had one thing in mind – turn the tens of thousands of bike fans into solid profits.
And according to several local business, that’s exactly what they did.
“This has been the best rally in years,” said Charisse Tyson, owner of Johnny’s Bar and Grill. “We sold a phenomenal amount of beer. The crowd was excellent, no problems at all. I can’t remember a crowd that marvelous.”
Commerce was a central theme at the rally with booths lining the entirety of San Benito Street from South to Fourth streets. But while outside vendors selling jackets, skull caps and vacation packages received plenty of business – local stores, who will continue to open shop long after the masses ride off, also fared well.
The Knife and Fork restaurant had been open just two weeks before the rally and owner Sheila Stevens said the experience was a bit of a trial by fire.
“By 3:30 on Saturday, we were out of everything. I mean, everything,” Stevens said. “We kept hearing ‘order a lot, order a lot,’ but I didn’t want to end up with a bunch of unused food. Next year I’ll definitely order more.”
The City of Hollister used tax dollars to buy 40,000 official Hollister Motorcycle Rally T-shirts to sell at the rally for between $20 and $25 apiece. City officials were banking on heavy spending to put some much-needed cash in the city coffers.
On Monday, City Manager Clint Quilter said it would be another two weeks before his office knows what kind of sales they had.
“It’s been a great rally,” Quilter said. “No big problems – we’ll maybe look at making a few changes next year, but we’ll see.”
It wasn’t only bars and restaurants that raked in extra revenue over the weekend. Employees at Teezers clothing boutique said they sold twice as much merchandise as a “normal weekend,” which was about equal with last year.
“It was a great weekend for sales,” said Teezers employee Melissa McDonald. “I think the only complaint we had was from some locals who had to park really far away.”
Seth Doulton of Horse Power Promotions and the lead organizer for the event said he expected sales to be on par with last year’s rally.
“It was a busy weekend,” Doulton said. “I think everyone has been pretty happy with the outcome.”
