The PGA Championship didn’t boost all Newtown Square small businesses

The PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club has been billed as a boon for the Philadelphia region.

The PGA expected more than 200,000 spectators to flock to the Newtown Square course for the six-day event. During a Saturday visit, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the tournament, which ends Sunday, would generate about $200 million for the local economy.

But a couple miles away, outside the lush confines of the country club and away from the TV cameras, some small-business owners said they’re still waiting for a boost from the major championship.

“Every day, it’s hurt us,” said Luigi Lemme, co-owner of Luigi and Giovanni, as he stood in the cheese aisle of his Italian market on Sunday morning. A couple customers trickled in.

Business has been slow all week, Lemme said. He declined to specify how much sales were down but said the shop would be in a “bad situation” if not for a tournament-related catering contract.

Across St. Alban’s Circle at Bunny Hare’s gift shop, owner Anne Marie Hare has faced a similar slump.

She has watched buses ferry thousands of golf fans to and from the official parking lots on State Route 252 and West Chester Pike. Other spectators have paid to park on homeowners’ lawns near Aronimink or taken shuttles from the Paoli SEPTA Station, on the other side of the course from her store.

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None are stopping to shop, she said.

“Most of their money is being spent out at the merch tent” at Aronimink, Hare said. Food and nonalcoholic drinks are also included with PGA Championship admission, she noted, so spectators don’t necessarily need to stop at other nearby businesses for a bite to eat either.

Meanwhile, she said, she thinks locals have stayed away from Newtown Square due to concerns about traffic.

“I wish I was busier,” Hare said. But overall, the PGA Championship is “a great thing for the area.”

While some business owners say they have struggled to compete with the PGA Championship, others say they have benefited.

A Cut Above Deli has seen a “big time” boost in business — likely a 20% to 30% increase compared with a typical May week — said manager Nick Carneglia. TV broadcast crews have ordered hoagie trays, he said, as have locals who are hosting PGA gatherings.

“The restaurants are doing really well,” said Sheila Turner-Hilliard, president of the Newtown Square Business Association and owner of From The Top Studio of Dance. “Everybody I’ve talked to has had something good to say about this tournament from start to finish.”

At times, some spots at the mixed-use Ellis Preserve complex have been “packed” with golf fans, Turner-Hilliard said. The center has several regional-chain restaurants, such as LaScala’s Fire and Sedona Taphouse; a Whole Foods Market; and two hotels, a Hilton Garden Inn and an AC Hotel.

“It’s been pretty exciting for us,” said Laura Roberts, general manager of AC Hotel Newtown Square.

The 140-room property has been “mostly sold out” all week, with “very little availability,” Roberts said. The bookings are from “a mixture of PGA golfers, staff, families, as well as just our normal clientele and then spectators.” There were also guests of several weddings that took place at Ellis Preserve’s two on-site venues.

Elsewhere in Newtown Square, other business owners said they had not felt any impact from the PGA Championship.

At Weinrich’s Bakery, cookies decorated with the image of a golf ball on a green were among the wide array of treats on display Sunday. But PGA fans haven’t been flooding in to buy them, said Cynthia Weinrich.

“Overall, it’s kind of hard to say” whether the tournament has helped or hurt the bakery, Weinrich said. At the shop, she added, it’s largely felt like a regular, post-Mother’s Day week.

Other entrepreneurs have pivoted in light of the PGA Championship.

Nicholas Sebastian Salon & Spa closed for four days because of the projected traffic from the tournament. But owner Nick Scamuffa took advantage of his salon’s expansive parking lot, which is just a few-minute walk to a spectator entrance, and sold spots for between $150 and $200 a day.

On Sunday afternoon, he said he was on track to have parked 322 cars.

Scamuffa said he would have made more money being open, but the extra earnings will help offset the approximately 800 appointments the salon missed out on over four days.

“It’s not the PGA’s fault,” Scamuffa said. “They’re just doing their thing.”

Scamuffa said he can’t help but laugh, too, at all the publicity his salon has gotten over a parking lot.

Even Lemme, of Luigi and Giovanni, said he doesn’t know that the temporary business disruptions could have been prevented.

“I respect what they do,” Lemme said of the PGA. As for the lost business, “nothing really can be done.”