If you’ve been to a Boston Red Sox or New England Patriots game, a Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Southie, or a pushcart in Faneuil Hall, you’ve likely had a pretzel from Boston Pretzel. But 60 percent of the Jamaica Plain bakery's sales came from colleges.

“They were great clients,” said Linda DeMarco, owner of Boston Pretzel. “Boston College was very dedicated to giving the students a good quality product. Not only was I doing their sports, but I was in their cafeterias. And the same thing with Northeastern.”

After Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency and the NCAA canceled the Beanpot college hockey tournament, DeMarco closed Boston Pretzel. The bakery had survived previous economic downturns, she said. “Not only the recessions. I survived the Atkins Diet! No one wanted to have carbs. That was disastrous,” she said.

With thousands of students out of dorms, dining halls and football stadiums this fall, colleges have much less revenue coming in — which means fewer dollars are going out. Colleges are some of the largest employers and biggest spenders in Massachusetts and New England, so their budget cuts are being felt across the state and region.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce has found that since the beginning of the year, the number of small businesses in the city has decreased by about 33%. Boston has experienced the third-biggest drop in hotel room occupancy, behind two other tourist destinations: Oahu, Hawaii, and Orlando, FL.

No data track colleges’ discretionary spending specifically, but economic leaders say what's happening shows how the city's colleges and the local economy are intertwined — like a pretzel.

“For those that didn’t like economics in college, we’ve gotten a lesson in ECON101 here,” said Jim Rooney, the president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

GBH's Diane Adame contributed to this report.

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Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Linda DeMarco's last name. It is DeMarco, not DiMarco.