FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — For the most part, federal holidays are marked by spending time with family, often making meals at home and not spending any time shopping or eating out due to closures. However, some businesses opt to stay open.

“We always see an uptick, perhaps because other places are closed,” said Aaron Bentley, the officer manager with Coney Island.

For some in Fort Wayne, it’s just what the businesses have always done and will continue to do.

“It’s something we’ve always done, we are closed three days a year, and that is Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving,” Bentley said. “We’ve been open 362 days as long as I know of”

“Actually, all of our Handel’s locations are actually open the majority of the holidays except for the big ones, Christmas and New Year’s of course,” said Allyson Diehl, general manager of Handel’s in southwest Fort Wayne.

For those businesses that do remain open, they say reduced competition makes for good business days.

“It’s a steady, I didn’t know if it would be slow, our north location has been busy since it opened at 11 a.m.,” Diehl said.

And it also makes a great atmosphere for families to come out on a weekday that would otherwise be occupied by work or school.

“There’s a few more kids, so we do see bigger groups, sometimes it takes a few minutes to get everyone seated if we have to ring up 10 or 12 people,” Bentley said.