Hundreds of thousands of people made their way to the Golden Horseshoe yesterday to watch the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse, boosting business for the cities and restaurants along the so-called “path of totality.”
Even with the clouds, restaurants in Niagara are reporting they saw four times the amount of sales on eclipse day compared to a regular Monday.
Station 1 Coffeehouse – an already bustling coffee shop in Grimsby – says they saw quite the boost on eclipse day.
“We probably had about 500 to 600 customers throughout the day, a lot of people coming in the morning to grab stuff to go, probably on their way to Niagara Falls,” Operations Manager Nicki Manley said.
“And we had a lot of people coming back through, after being stuck in traffic. And I think there were people who gave up on the traffic and came in. … and I would say that our sales were quadruple that of a normal Monday.”
READ MORE: Solar eclipse observers react to afternoon darkness in Niagara Falls
And they’re not the only ones. According to Niagara Parks, around 200,000 people descended on the Niagara Region yesterday to watch the historic moment of the moon fully eclipsing the sun.
While that’s just a fifth of the million people that Niagara was expecting, it didn’t stop many from renting hotel rooms, eating at local restaurants, and shopping at businesses.
According to credit card processing company Square, restaurants in Niagara Falls saw a 400 per cent jump in sales, compared to an average Monday in 2024.
Hamilton – also along the path of totality – saw a 67 percent increase.
Station 1 spent weeks preparing for the historic event, making galaxy donuts and brownies, and cocktails, like the one called the “total eclipse of the heart.”
“We just decided we’re not serving any food for these ten minutes, and we all went outside. The clouds actually opened up for us and we got beautiful sightlines, everyone cheered,” Manley said.
READ MORE: Clouds part for stunning view of solar eclipse in Hamilton
And if you’re all done with your eclipse glasses, you can actually donate them at Station 1.
“So, we did some research and found some great organizations that will collect them and send them to other countries where it might be harder to get the glasses, especially for students and children,” Manley said.
Most of the glasses donated will be going to Argentina and Chile, which are expecting an eclipse on Oct. 2.
Brian came to donate his solar glasses Tuesday afternoon, after watching the eclipse in his Beamsville backyard.
“I don’t think I’m going to wait around another hundred years to use them again, one of those things you put in a safe place and never find them again,” Brian said.
The City of Niagara falls is collecting used eclipse glasses as well, at all city facilities.
They’ll go to the group Astronomers Without Borders who also send the glasses around the world to the next eclipse location. It seems like we won’t be needing them until 2144.