Colorado Springs small-business owners and residents joined Colorado Springs elected officials, local economic boards and military personnel’s elation in the Air Force’s decision to keep U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters in Colorado Springs at Peterson Space Force Base.

While Space Command’s presence influences the city’s economic outcome in the commercial realm of aerospace and defense contracts or the labor market, small businesses surrounding Peterson said that Space Command shares a part in the fabric of Colorado Springs military community that is felt inside their businesses.

Outside the North Gate of Peterson, Sandy’s Restaurant, bearing the address 6940 Space Village Ave., serves a large portion of the city’s military community and veterans, even if restaurant staff, such as general manager Samuel Avina, do not know their customers’ exact branch or command.

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“A big portion of our clientele is either at Peterson or they’ve served over the years,” Avina said. “If they (Space Command) would have left, we would have lost a lot of day-to-day regulars.”

Many service members that work at Peterson filter into Sandy’s throughout the week to grab burritos, sandwiches or coffee from the dinner-style joint, Avina said, and some come back on weekends with their families.

“They’re really some of the best customers you could have,” Avina said. “It’s a lot of their camaraderie and their respect. They will be always be grateful — you will never get anyone that’s rude in uniform.”

Not every service member that walks through the squeaky screen door is in uniform, but some veterans like Ben Heiple wear hats and other clues about their time in the service. Heiple, who served in the Navy, “didn’t see the logical reason” Space Command would move and was “very glad” it didn’t.

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A few miles south, parties often gather to celebrate their fellow service members arrival, departure or promotion milestones in Colorado Springs, said Steve Kanatzar, owner and operator of The Airplane Restaurant, an eatery where patrons can dine inside a 1953 Boeing KC-97 tanker.

“It’s great … anything that helps bring people into the area, because it’s not only the bases,” Kanatzar said, “it’s the other contracts and military that come to be with Space Command.”

The bare bones of new housing structures around the corner from the restaurant hint at growing development.

“It’s going in the right direction having people come in,” Kanatzar said. “It helps our tax base, which will help our school, our parks and our community as whole.”

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