TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — As many Troy University students return to their home towns to enjoy their winter break, at least one local business is preparing for a significant decrease in customers.

Adam Vinson is the owner of Fuse Coffee. When it comes to holiday breaks in Troy, a large part of his clientele leaves for an entire month.

“It’s a ghost town,” Vinson said. “The students aren’t here. The population of the town has literally been cut.

“When sales go down in that manner, it’s not like I can go out and advertise up new sales or customers or anything like that. It’s literally the population is not here in town.”

The decline in sales is not just a December problem. Vinson sees a dip in business anytime students leave Troy.

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“Holiday break in December, summer break, and also even when there’s like an away game and students go out of town for a Saturday, I definitely feel a dip in that,” Vinson explained. “I know exactly when graduation hits in December [because] that the day after that, my sales are going to be dropped by 30 to 35%.”

Without his dedicated and local customers, Vinson said it would be hard to keep the doors open when the students are gone.

“They keep the doors open and the students keep the coffee flowing.”

Vinson has a few more weeks to enjoy his college customers, but graduation and the start of winter break is looming on the horizon. Once the break starts, local business owners will have to wait a little over a month for students to return as the spring semester is scheduled to start on Jan. 14.