A sign posted Friday and Saturday on the door of a liquor store on South Illinois Avenue read, We will be closed (as part of Carbondale’s Halloween Economic Ghost Town Project)…

Several Carbondale businesses on the Strip suffered financial losses for two main reasons:Thousands of SIUC students went home for the five-day break, and bars, restaurants and liquor stores on the Strip were unable to sell alcohol from Friday at 2 a.m. until Sunday at 2 a.m. because of the first installment of the Mayoral/Presidential Task Force on Halloween’s restrictions that began on Friday.

Yaser Ibrahim, owner of Sam’s Cafe, 521 S. Illinois Ave., said he lost over 75 percent of his normal business during the Halloween weekend.

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It was the worst in Sam’s history, Ibrahim said. We expected it to be slow, but not that slow.

Jim Curtis, a part-time clerk at Old Town Liquors, 514 S. Illinois Ave., said business was slow because the busiest times are between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., which coincided with restriction hours.

It hurt us big time I suppose, Curtis said. Anytime you don’t do business on Friday and Saturday nights, it’s going to hurt.

It’s unfair to close these businesses like Stix and Gatsby’s along with us and not other businesses, Curtis said.

Tres Hombres, 119 N. Washington, which was not restricted from selling alcohol Friday and Saturday nights, was still influenced by the Halloween Task Force’s restrictions, Burt Cannell, co-owner of Tres Hombres, said.

The owners do suffer, Cannell said. But if you have 20, 30, 40 people working for you, they suffer to.

Jim Tomlianovich, owner of La Roma’s Pizza, 515 1/2 S. Illinois Ave., said he lost 40 percent of his normal business. He said anytime students are sent home for a break, the local economy will suffer.

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We closed at 11:30 p.m. both nights, he said. Tomlianovich said La Roma’s Pizza usually closes at 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and he had to reduce his staff almost by one-half.

Mike Nolan, a clerk at Old Town Liquors, said he had talked to many students employed by area businesses who had lost work hours because of city restrictions.

I lost 19 hours worth of work, Nolan, a senior in history, said. This may not seem like much to some people, but for college students working their way through college, it’s a lot of money.