By By Jeanine Budd, News Staff

Students looking for summer jobs may be less likely to strike out around Fenway Park, managers at Kenmore Square-area businesses said.
With Red Sox season approaching and the new House of Blues open, local bars and restaurants are expecting more business despite the souring economy, said Bruno Pifano, assistant general manager at Boston Beerworks, across Brookline Avenue from the park.
‘We are looking for increased business,’ Pifano said.
Beerworks managers have hired between 70 and 80 new staff members for the season, significantly more than the 50 they hired last year, and are still looking for employees, Pifano said.
‘For the [baseball] season, business is not going to change,’ he said. ‘People are still going to go see games, still be looking to see concerts and still go out to eat.’
Business for the rest of the season will rest squarely on the shoulders of the Sox, he said.
‘I hope they win,’ he said. ‘It’s always good when the Red Sox are winning ‘- it makes everyone happy and a little bit crazy.’
Other area stores are cutting back, but not as much as other businesses.
This year, The Souvenir Store on Yawkey Way will be cutting down about 20 percent of the part-time help they would normally hire for the baseball season, assistant manager Brian Maurer said.
This is partly because of the economy and partly because they have a number of returning workers, meaning they do not need to hire as many new ones, he said.
‘You talk about economics right now and people who are trying to get away from the everyday grind, they look to sports, especially in Boston,’ he said.
Maurer said it is hard to tell if the small decreases in sales between 2007, 2008 and this year at The Souvenir Store are due to the economy or to the fact that in 2007, the Red Sox won a World Series and in 2008, they made the second postseason round ‘- less than some fans had expected.
‘If we won a World Series this year, it’d be interesting to see if suddenly people will not buy World Series champions merchandise because of the economy,’ Maurer said. ‘That would be our biggest test.’
Some students on the job hunt in the area, however, have not been successful.
Freshman human services and international affairs major Kijana Rose, who sold Red Sox Nation memberships at Fenway Park last summer, said she does not think area businesses will fare much better than other establishments.
‘There are some really cheap organizations,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it will be better there at all.’
Rose said she may look for another job at the park this summer, possibly doing security, but is also looking in other neighborhoods because not many places are hiring.
‘It’s really difficult right now,’ she said. ‘I don’t think they’ll hire as many people, and they’ll probably make cuts.’
Tracey Hurley, a freshman undeclared major, said she has been looking for a job for about two weeks without much luck.
‘[The economy] might have something to do with it, since places don’t have enough money to spend on extra employees,’ she said.
Hurley said she has not been looking too hard, and focusing on retail jobs in the Prudential Center.
Kenmore Square will be one of the next areas in which she looks, she said.

‘- News staff member Gal Tziperman Lotan contributed to this report.