The Corner serves as a cornerstone of popular activity for students and visitors in Charlottesville, offering a wide range of local businesses like The Virginian, Bodo’s Bagels and Trinity on the Corner that regularly attract students. However, as the price of owning small businesses and concerns about inflation in recent years increase, business owners on the Corner find themselves having to raise prices for customers, who are primarily students.
Andy McClure, owner of The Virginian and a Class of 2001 alumnus, said in a statement to The Cavalier Daily that the last five years have placed a strain on the restaurant business due to significant expense increases.
“The restaurant business has been and always will be tremendously challenging. Every single thing that we buy has become dramatically more expensive over the past five years,” McClure said.
Comparing menus between March and October 2025, The Virginian saw an overall price increase of 16.41 percent for starters, sandwiches and salads. The after-5 p.m. entrees on their menu saw an overall price increase of 15 percent. These figures were obtained by reviewing menus from the past through the internet archive, or Wayback Machine.
Bodo’s, a popular breakfast and lunch spot, has increased the price of a bagel by 9.52 percent since this past July. And any customer purchasing romaine lettuce on their bagel will see a $1 surcharge, according to a sign at the checkout counter.
“The cost of romaine has more than tripled over the last few months,” the sign reads. “When it comes back down, we will adjust appropriately.”
Inflation has been higher than average in recent years, peaking at just over 9.1 percent in the summer of 2022. In the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual rate of inflation was three percent in September, and prices rose for some goods by the fastest pace recorded since January. When former President Joe Biden took office in 2021, the cumulative rate of inflation was just over one percent.
In a college town like Charlottesville, these cost increases can prove challenging as students rely on affordable options to gather with friends or grab a quick bite to eat.
Third-year Batten student Mathew Foley said that although he has noticed the rising costs since his first year, individual businesses are just responding to higher expenses.
“I honestly have noticed an increase in price since my first year, I think especially over the last couple of months,” Foley said. “It’s obviously unfortunate that prices are going up. I wish prices were lower, but I think it's out of a lot of these businesses’ hands and the cost of doing business is just up across the board. Wages are up, food prices are up.”
Fourth-year Architecture student Alan Watts said that bars on the Corner were universally expensive and these prices always made him hesitant to go out but that the added expense probably would not push students away.
“I go to The Virg a decent amount, but I’m usually going to their happy hour. I feel like U.Va bars in general just have pretty high prices. So I am very wary about spending money at bars,” Watts said. “Not something that people are going to be happy about but not something that people will super notice. Maybe they’ll just make happy hour and the deals or promotions they do more popular.”
The Virginian does offer an Elite Program, allowing students to compete throughout the semester for discounted drinks and food. According to Watts, the card earns its holders $8 Trashcan drinks and $2 basic mixed drinks, or rails. Watts recently got his Elite card and said it is both an exciting opportunity and economical.
“An Elite card gets you access to a bunch of deals which are super nice,” Watts said. “The deals aren’t too crazy but they’re pretty economical. I also just see Elite as a fun fourth-year bucket list thing, so I’m glad I got that checked off.”
Watts said his Elite card’s access to deals has incentivized him to spend more money at The Virginian, with the access to deals encouraging him to get meals and drinks with friends.
“If you know someone who’s Elite you want to go with them because they might try and share their discount,” Watts said. “Having Elite actually makes me buy a lot of drinks and food because of the access to discounts. Before that, I just knew the general prices were a little bit higher.”
To mitigate rising costs, students said they take advantage of deals on certain days throughout the week. These include discounted pitchers Tuesday night at Trinity or Thursday $2 mixed drinks at The Virginian, remain highly attractive to students and help offset increased prices. Foley said he will be content as long as the deals remain.
“I think as long as they keep pushing out deals to students … and businesses keep marketing deals towards students, I’ll be happy,” Foley said.
McClure said that despite the rising prices, he hopes the Virginian will continue to be a staple of the Corner.
“At the Virginian, our focus remains the same, being approachable for the entire community,” McClure said. “From our main menu to our specials we want to be the same great place that has been a part of the University since 1923.”
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