A Hot New Target: The Youth Market

Ten years ago, it was tough to get a burger after 9 p.m. around here. A good miniskirt was hard to find, too. And you probably couldn’t get a financial planner to take you seriously with a ton of student-loan debt.

But that all seems to be changing.

Southwest Florida has seen a gradual uptick in the number of young people. A workforce survey commissioned by the Lee County Economic Development Office shows about 16.7 percent of the county’s population was aged 18 to 34 in 2000, compared with 19.1 percent in 2007. Beyond the numbers, night owls know that when seniors hit the sack, college students and young professionals hit the streets.

Some businesses have taken notice of the changing demographic—and found opportunities to cater to it. Here’s how three sectors are cashing in.

THE NIGHT SHIFT

Some quiet, family-friendly restaurants in Naples and Fort Myers offer a thriving nightclub scene into the wee hours—and the regular lunch and dinner crowds might not even know it. The strategy of offering diverse options for different customers within a single venue has proven successful in recent years.

Take Noodles Italian Café and Sushi Bar, which opened in 1991 as a small restaurant with limited seating, limited parking and a limited market. When owner Matt Berman moved the restaurant to Pine Ridge Road in north Naples four years ago, he decided to use a variety of tactics to target a wide range of customers.

Thursday nights, for example, feature a happy hour with half-price appetizers and a regular singer performing Motown hits. As the evening progresses, the center of the restaurant is cleared for ballroom dancing. And at 10 p.m., DJ 007 launches with ’80s music, working his way to hip-hop and house music until 2 a.m.