Local bars in Kingston have long relied on students to prop up alcohol sales. Every year has brought a wave of newly minted adults, giddy with independence and eager to test out their alcohol tolerance.
But as university-age students are drinking less alcohol and sleeping far more than previous generations, local businesses are scrambling to adapt.
Young Canadians that engage in heavy drinking—defined as consuming more than five drinks for men or four for women per night—decreased by a third between 2015 and 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
Gen Z is also sleeping more than other generations. On average, people in their twenties got nine hours and 28 minutes of sleep per night in 2022, an eight per cent increase from 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the American Time Use Survey.
Early bedtimes and widespread sobriety have begun creeping up on sales, forcing small university-town businesses to alter the way they operate.
On the edge of the student district in Kingston, The Mansion has observed customers going out earlier, using data from point-of-sales terminals that track when purchases are made.
Seven years ago, they made 80 per cent of sales between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., according to Casey Fisher, co-owner of The Mansion.Now, most sales come in earlier—usually from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
“It’s questionable whether it’s worth being open between 1 and 2 [a.m.] a lot of nights other than weekends,” Fisher said in an interview.
Previously open until 2 a.m. almost every night, The Mansion has shifted its kitchen hours to close around midnight on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and 1 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
Fisher said management is considering closing even earlier and has amended staff schedules over the past few years to match slower late night demand. COVID-19 likely played a role in altering student habits, Fisher added.
“That was a generation coming into the age of being able to drink at a time when there aren’t bars open or anywhere to go to drink,” he said.
The Mansion has four floors of space and has been touting its event and party capabilities—enabling them to pre-sell alcohol and food to hosts.
Overall profits have fallen slightly due to low alcohol consumption, according to Fisher.
The general drinking rate among adults between 18 and 34 decreased 10 per cent over the past two decades, according to a poll by US analytics company Gallup in 2023. The trend flipped for adults over 55, who drink 10 per cent more now than in the last two previous decades.
The Mansion has adapted by creating a non-alcoholic cocktail menu, which requires an investment in inventory and staff training.
Some have hypothesized changing partying trends among young adults could be because of the #SoftGirl trend on TikTok, a COVID-19 hangover, bad marketing, and rising prices.
Last year, the World Health Organization concluded there’s no safe amount of alcohol consumption. Many students are deciding to limit alcohol and sleeping more in the name of health—among them is Riley Walker, HealthSci ’23.
“I’m just a creature of habit,” she told The Journal. “Having a consistent schedule, even on weekends is really important for overall wellbeing.”
Walker typically went to bed around 10 p.m. while at university and got between seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
In her first three years at Queen’s, Walker said her friend group didn’t go out to bars because of the pandemic. But they still drank just as much, if not more.
Drinking at student homes in a “bubble” during the pandemic created some “problematic” drinking tendencies, Walker said.
“Socializing and drinking with your friends in the house, was the only source of novelty that we had,” she said. “I probably consumed way more than what I would have wanted to at that time.”
In her fourth year, Walker realized drinking was impacting her mental health; it was becoming a stressor and source of anxiety.
Coupled with what she was learning at school as a health sciences student, Walker decided to become more intentional with alcohol consumption.
Sometimes that means dealing with the fear of missing out, Walker said, now living in Toronto.
“I definitely still feel like I’m a little bit of the odd one out,” she said. “But I think everyone has their own little life course.”
Walker says health is about striking a balance: being patient with yourself and doing things in moderation.
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