MTV’s Video Music Awards move to New York means major profits for downtown Brooklyn businesses

It’s music to their ears – and cash registers.

Downtown Brooklyn business owners are already licking their chops and cooking up ways to cash in on MTV’s biggest night.

Local restaurants, clothing shops and hotels are already coming up with promotional ideas to rake in even more customers when the MTV Video Music Awards come to the Barclays Center August 25th.

It’ll be the first time any major televised award show has been staged in Brooklyn.

“We expect MTV will fill a lot of beds for us,” said Jennifer Goodman, sales manager at the Nu Hotel on Smith St. “There will be big names and glamour – hopefully with some of them staying with us.”

To win customers, operators at the 93-room downtown Brooklyn hotel will put together a special package for MTV guests that will be posted on Facebook and offer food and drink specials in its cocktail lounge Misdemeanor.

“It will make for a sold-out weekend for us and every hotel in Brooklyn,” predicted Goodman, whose hotel gets “a significant boost” in bookings because of Barclays events.

Oscar Cristoforis, co-manager at pricey hip-hop clothing store Atrium on Flatbush Ave., said crowds haven’t been shopping at his store.

When the VMAs come to town, Cristoforis plans to give celebrity shoppers deep discounts if they let him post their pictures to Twitter and Instagram hoping to generate a buzz.

“A lot of people that would go to the VMAs would shop at Atrium,” said Cristoforis. “We’ve got a pretty good crowd that follows the VMAs. That tells me the crowd is going to be receptive to us.”

The $1 billion arena at Flatbush and Atlantic Ave., which opened in September, is home to the Brooklyn Nets and has played host to concerts by entertainment icons from part-owner Jay-Z to Justin Bieber and Barbra Streisand.

“The number of bodies is the number of bodies and any event that can bring in that number of people to an area is a boon,” said Downtown Brooklyn Partnershop presdient Tucker Reed.

But not all shops have seen a boon.

Nearly six months after the stadium opened, the News found that bars with cheap beer and many restaurants were making big bucks off the Barclays arena crowds as clothing stores and eateries struggled.

Meanwhile Gunay Aliyeva, owner of Woodland, a restaurant on Flatbush Ave., said business has been booming since the arena opened and plans on having a pre-fixe menu with extra staffers to get people in and out in a hurry when the VMAs come to Brooklyn.

“When Jay-Z opened up, this place was insane,” said Aliyeva. “We’re kind of used to it by now.”

mmorales@nydailynews.com

Twitter.com/NYDNMarkMorales

This article was originally published by NY Daily News.

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