For more than 20 years, Karen Boschert has sold hot dogs outside Busch Stadium. She calls her cart, at the corner of Eighth and Walnut streets, a "staple" for stadiumgoers looking for a quick bite to eat.
But business for K's Unique Dogs has been tough lately. Boschert said each year, it's gotten worse as the Cardinals sell fewer home tickets.
"It's hurting everybody downtown," she said. "They're not coming anymore — they don't want to spend the money downtown on the product that's on the field, the parking, the tickets."
She said she estimates her sales at her cart have gone down lately, almost 80% from their peak, due to the lack of foot traffic headed to the stadium.
Earlier this month, the Cardinals set a record after selling only 17,002 tickets to their Sept. 2 home game against the Athletics. It marked the lowest announced attendance for a Cardinals game since the current Busch Stadium opened in 2006.
The Cardinals are in the first half of their final home stand of the season. As of Tuesday, the Cardinals' average attendance at a home game stands at roughly 27,700 tickets sold — that's down from an average of 35,870 last year.
Currently, they are 19th out of 30 teams in Major League Baseball in average tickets sold per game.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cardinals averaged more than 38,000 fans a game every season at the new stadium and in 2022 bounced back from the pandemic to average nearly 41,000 fans per game, second in MLB behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But the Cardinals' struggle to find their form is impacting more than just hot dog and ticket sales. According to data from the Missouri Department of Revenue, taxable sales downtown are down across the board this year compared to last.
Through the end of June, $50 million less in sales were made in the 63102 ZIP code that houses a large portion of restaurants and other businesses surrounding Busch Stadium compared to last year.
The dropoff follows a trend. At the end of 2023, businesses in the 63102 ZIP code made about $530 million worth of taxable sales. At the end of 2024, that total dropped to roughly $490 million — a roughly 7% drop. It marked the first year when sales didn't rise since the height of the pandemic in 2020, when sales plummeted to $147 million.
For Boschert, the drop in sales means cutting back. This year, she closed her second cart she once stationed at Eighth and Spruce, due to low sales.
"I have given that up this year because of the low attendance," she said, citing savings on labor and product. She said there are only about two hot dog vendors outside the stadium, including her, with the other setting up on the east side of the stadium.
A sudden upswing doesn't appear to be near as the Cardinals continue to struggle to find their form. The team has lost six of its last seven games through Monday's series opener against Cincinnati.
Still, Boschert said she has no plans to quit. She said when the team eventually turns it around, the fans will return hungry for hot dogs.
"The Cardinals won't always be bad, you know, they're not going to keep doing that," she said. "I don't want to stop because I know we'll turn it around."
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