For the last two weeks, and two weeks out of every year for the past 10 years, Chris Cox, owner of Shark’s Surf Shop, 813 Massachusetts St., has been preparing for the annual downtown sidewalk sale.

The employees have to start early so they can decide what to pull for the bazaar-style sale, Cox said.

The sidewalk sale will begin July 21 marking the 34th annual sidewalk sale, which began in the early 1970s.

Store and restaurant owners throughout the downtown area hope to see a spike in patronage, said Jason Horowitz, bar and restaurant manager for The Jayhawker, 701 Massachusetts St.

“I think people gear up for it,” Horowitz said. “Not only the retailers but the general public as well.”

The public does come out, Shark’s Surf Shop will see a 10-fold spike in customers, Cox said.

Even Horowitz, who said he had been manager at The Jayhawker for only three weeks and would be working his first sidewalk sale, said he expected a bump in patrons.

Kerri Henderson

Stores and shoppers gear up for the downtown sidewalk sale this coming weekend. Arizona Trading Company posted this decorative sign on their front entrance.

Both establishments will have to staff more people. Shark’s, on an average day, staffs four to six people, but during the sidewalk sale the store will employ 10 to 12 people each day.

The Jayhawker will have six to seven people working throughout breakfast and lunch, doubling the average breakfast shift and adding a couple more to the lunch shift, Horowitz said.

Although The Jayhawker will staff more people, the turnout for the establishment depends upon other factors as well. The temperature has a lot to do with the number of patrons, Horowitz said. More patrons come in when the temperature is relatively mild as compared with a very hot day, he said.

Revenues vary from business to business, but Cox said the shop made a little more but really used the sidewalk sale to clean out its inventory. Because the shop can clean out much of its inventory and the patrons enjoy the sales, Cox (SAID HE) would like to see the sidewalk sale become a biannual sale.

“I think they should do it twice a year,” Cox said. “To coincide with summer trends and winter trends.”