Trimesters are killing business in Armidale, employers say.

The Leader met with owners and managers from Armidale retail and hospitality outlets on Thursday, all of whom said business suffered over university holidays.

And with the trimester model bringing longer breaks – some rag traders can’t even make budget.

“The drop in sales during uni holidays is immense,” Cotton On store manager Georgina Allingham said.

“They are only here from basically March to October and then between October to the end of February you’ve got nothing.

“Uni students are a massive part of our customer base.”

And other dress shops agree.

Sportsgirl’s Amy Roff said trimesters “definitely” impact on business, as well as employment opportunities for students.

“I think it’s one of the reasons shops don’t hire students because they do go away for a prolonged period,” she said.

“The store attracts predominantly young uni girls, so when uni is on break, the store is dead and we make under budget.”

Ally store manager Keri Parbery said “once uni goes and everyone leaves it gets very rough”.

“The demographic we market is that age group and they’re only here when they’re at school,” she said.

“A lot of them don’t hang around if they do want work because there’s not enough work to keep them here.”

The owner of the New England and Wicklow Hotels, Nick Ingham-Myers, said he found locals came out more when classes were on.

“From what I’ve noticed, and we’ve only been here for trimesters, when uni is happening we get more locals out,” he said.

“I guess a crowd creates a crowd, but the percentage of trade from students at the Wicklow isn’t huge … we more get families.

“We notice there’s more families out and about when uni is in.”

Mr Ingham-Myers said he would rather look at getting more kids coming to university by reducing online options, rather than altering the trimester model.

“It seems their online intake is huge and it seems the actual students physically coming here and going to classes is down to what it used to be,” he said.

“It might be cheaper and easier for them [the university] to get online students.

“If they’re here with more contact weeks it can only be good for the whole town and businesses.”

St Kilda Hotel manager David Barraclough said online courses drawing students away from campus was also an issue for their business.

“The big issue nowadays is that students are just not here anymore,” he said.

Mr Barraclough, who started working at the Kilda 25 years ago, said he’s seen many changes.

“The university has changed completely and so have other rules and regulations,” he said.

As for hiring students, Mr Barraclough said with business being quieter these days, it’s not a big issue.

“We’ve got less people [coming to the pub] so we don’t need as many staff,” he said.

But not all businesses are impacted, Good Price Pharmacy pharmacist Genevieve Snell said.

“I don’t think we’re hugely effected,” she said.

“The advantage that we have is that at the end of the year when students are leaving, we still get quite a lot of the older population hitting the safety net and getting their prescriptions.”

Ms Snell said the pharmacy currently employ a number of local students and one casual that “comes and goes”. 

And the three session per year model doesn’t effect the Gold Fish Bowl, manager Bonnie Erskine-Smith said.

“We’ve got quite a regular clientele that aren’t necessarily uni students,” she said.

Efforts to revoke the trimester model, introduced in 2012, are ramping up this week.

The first meeting to commence a bargaining process between UNE management and the union was held on Monday.

“Those bargaining teams will get together and negotiate back and forth,” NTEU New England Branch President Margaret Sims told The Leader.

“Our current agreement expires later this year and we have to bargain for a new agreement.”

Ms Sims said the union had spent significant time consulting with members across all schools at UNE.

“What came up unanimously in all of our meetings was concern around the trimesters,” she said.