SCRANTON, LACKWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — There is a second wave of business expected to come to the Scranton with the FIFA fan zone next weekend.

Downtown Scranton saw the positive economic impact of a large-scale event like Big Boy coming to town. With the first of two FIFA fan zone’s set for next weekend, businesses are adjusting to capitalize on the moment.

Becky and John Reinhart are retired and came to the area from York to experience the hiking trails.

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After booking a room at the Raddison, they learned about the Big Boy at Steamtown.

“Once we booked our hotels for biking and then we started getting information,” John Reinhart from York said. “There’s gonna be a train coming through town. We can’t miss that.”

Reinhart and his wife, Becky, are grabbing lunch from Downtown Cosgrove’s in the Steamtown Mall.

The small business has never seen crowds like this in the mall since opening three years ago.

“Business has been excellent, if not doubled for all small businesses,” chef and owner Stephanie Peoples said. “The foot traffic is unbelievable, and I think it’s great for the area.”

Peoples said there’s been little to no time to think about a plan for the FIFA Fan Zone coming next weekend because of the heavy turnout they’ve been handling.

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Over at Davinci’s pizza on Linden Street, the plan is to remove the fencing to create a grab and go pizza shop outside the store.

“It’s great type of busy. Looking forward to events like that you know they keep you running throughout the whole year,” Tyler Connor, manager of DaVinci’s pizza said. “These kind of events pick you right back up and people coming in from all over. Hopefully they like our pizza.

Connor said they’re preparing for what’s expected to be a large crowd, with extra orders already placed ahead of the world’s biggest game coming to Scranton.

“If people are partying, we’re here. So we’re open till three in the morning on the weekends,” Connor said. “I’m not sure if we will that weekend cause how many people are gonna be here and how busy it is, but you know people are out, we’ll be open.”

While the Reinharts are leaving Scranton to head home, they said every business in the city should benefit from the fan zone in July.

“It’s been a wonderful visit,” Becky Reinhart said. “I was joking with my friends, but I was going to be on vacation in Scranton, Pennsylvania.”

City leaders have also said the Big Boy coming to town was one of the biggest events the city has seen in a while.

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