Super Bowl Connects Businesses With New Customers

INGLEWOOD (CBSLA) — As the Super Bowl drew tens of thousands of people from all over the world to Inglewood, businesses connected with the new faces of tourists and long-time residents.

"I've been here for almost seven years," said Afolabi Aremu, owner of clothing store Bold Men. "And I have people who live in Inglewood that don't even know I'm even here."

Aremu hosted the event Taste of Inglewood for three days last week, right before the Super Bowl.

While businesses enjoyed the influx of customers, residents like Doudley Washington and Diana Limus stayed at home as the crowds and traffic packed the streets of the city.

"It was like chaotic," said Limus. "There's a lot of crazy drivers. A lot of people walking around. A lot of cops as well. But in a way — there's a lot of people in the community that were profiting with parking spaces."

Businesses like The Wood said their profits skyrocketed not only on the day of the Super Bowl but for the whole week leading up to it. The Wood said that the events surrounding the big game and the Super Bowl itself brought in a lot of first-time customers which they believe will only help bring in more people.

"We quadrupled our dollar amount in sales as far as our weekly sales," said manager Lisa Ruiz. "Those four days pretty much helped us tremendously."

With the successful week, the restaurant said it will keep the temporary employees that were hired to help for the busy weekend.

"We believe our business is also growing," said Ruiz.

While City Hall has yet to release preliminary numbers on the economic impact of the Super Bowl, local leaders estimate the game injected about half a billion dollars into the local economy.