Looking back at the World Cup: Fans drank Boston dry, got permanent tattoos, sold out famous BBQ joints, and drove up small business revenue

It became a running a joke for weeks. A city known for its more than lively and sometimes raucous nightlife somehow didn’t plan for the Tartan Army’s invasion of local taprooms. Several thousand miles away, a storied barbecue joint had to turn people away—not because they ran out of ribs, but because they ran out of the cups and utensils needed to serve those meats. Meanwhile, a tattoo parlor’s social media giveaway became a permanent souvenir for World Cup fans, from locals to foreign visitors now abroad.

The World Cup saw plenty of cross-cultural culinary diplomacy—foreigners and Americans alike who had never heard of yerba mate, for example, were now sharing gourds with friends—complete with social media posts about foreign visitors expressing excitement over the hospitality they received in this year’s host cities. As fans descended from around the world to support their home countries, they also stumbled into local small businesses, proving the real winner of the World Cup is Main Street, USA.

According to a Bank of America note, card spending spending at brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants and bars across the 11 U.S. host cities rose 5.3% year-over-year in the three weeks ending June 27, compared to 3.8% in the rest of the country. It’s a reversal from the prior three weeks, when host cities had trailed the rest of the country.

Los Angeles and New York were the clearest winners, tied to hosting Team USA group-stage matches and to a run of high-profile games. (New York also saw the Knicks’ championship run, which alone brought in at least $380 million to the city). On the other hand, Seattle barely moved in the data, but that’s because retail spending there was already running strong before the tournament began.

Boston’s Scottish invasion: ‘Who knew that would be such a fun thing to actually run out of beer‘

Between June 11 and June 21, the Samuel Adams Taproom in downtown Boston ran out of its flagship Boston Lager during the first weekend of Scotland’s group-stage matches. The location sold more than 7,000 pints of Boston Lager, emptied 99 kegs and two full tanks—the equivalent of another 30 kegs—and required five emergency deliveries to keep up.

“We were prepared for the influx of international visitors but could have never prepared for their preference for our flagship, Boston Lager, especially when we have 20 unique beers at the taproom,” said Devon Savage, manager of communications for the Samuel Adams brand. By the time the surge passed, the taproom had served roughly 10,000 pints total—about four times the volume it typically sees over a long holiday weekend like the Fourth of July.

“We thought we were prepared, and again, they just drank us dry,” she told........

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