Extended cold and snow storms that shut down towns for days at a time have become somewhat routine this winter, and many Northwest Arkansas business owners said they’re hurting as a result.
About 14 inches of snow or sleet has fallen since Dec. 1, according to the National Weather Service. That’s roughly triple the area’s average amount for December through February.
For retail, construction and restaurants, more snow has meant less business, though at least one supply company is bucking the trend.
By The Numbers
Wacky Weather*
• December 2013 snow: 7 inches
• Average December: 1.5 inches
• January 2014 snow: 1.9 inches
• Average January: 2.3 inches
• Feb. 1-5, 2014, snow: 5.2 inches
• Average February: 1.6 inches
- Figures are for Fayetteville’s Drake Field reporting station.
Source: National Weather Service
“It definitely has an impact on business, and just the sheer length of time you’ve seen. It’s not one or two days. It’s a whole week at a time,” said Steve Cox, Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce vice president, adding he hadn’t heard of any resulting layoffs.
“We’re spared from it most years, and this is just one of those flukes.”
Owners said people can’t get to their stores or aren’t risking the trip, even on foot. Most of this season’s snow came in two storms that dropped about 6 inches each, overwhelming limited street-clearing resources. About a dozen snow days so far for school districts complicated the problem.
“Dickson Street’s a different animal when people aren’t walking around,” said Joe Fennel, owner of Bordinos and Jose’s, two restaurants in Fayetteville. “It was slow in the wintertime in 1980, and it’s slow in the wintertime now.”
Sales were just a fraction of normal days at Somewhere in Time Antique Mall in Rogers, said Mike Meyers, owner. Likewise, over at Rick’s Bakery in Fayetteville, owner Rick Boone said the weather was “killing” his sales, bringing them down by half.
Julie Beaman, owner of Serious Cupcakes in Rogers, is a one-woman show.
“I have die-hard customers, which I appreciate, but then I have to figure out a way to get into the bakery to get the work done,” she said. “I don’t have any employees so I can only rely on myself.”
Builders and restaurants typically see downturns this time of year, but several owners agreed this season pushed it down further. Paula Alvarez, officer manager at Springdale’s Architectural Contractors, said work was at a standstill.
Drew Sneary, owner of Andrew’s Prime Construction in Rogers, said the demand is there, just not the ability to meet it immediately.
“Right now we’re experiencing higher volumes of calls of people wanting things built, but it’s difficult to finish the jobs we’re on — we can’t get to the job sites,” Sneary said. “In this area, with the hills, it makes it more difficult. We’ve got to move tools and we’ve got to move trailers, and it gets extremely dangerous. Right now I’m just telling the guys to stay at home.”
National companies reported similar problems.
Walmart warned investors in January sales would be flat for the end of last year, despite a solid holiday season. The company reports fourth-quarter earnings Feb. 20.
Nearly half of restaurants nationwide reported traffic losses in December because of the weather, according to the latest report from the National Restaurant Association. The nation’s carmakers also reported losses, with January sales down 3 percent compared to a year before, according to Autodata.
“It is a real cost to economic productivity,” said Kathy Deck, director of the University of Arkansas Center for Business and Economic Research, referring to winter storms. “It is lost wages and lost hours and lost work.”
Deck said the economic impact is tricky to measure in dollars, especially at the local level, because people usually don’t lose their jobs because of weather and because business bounces back eventually. Cox with the Rogers chamber agreed.
“People still need to shop, and they’re just not doing it right now,” Cox said. “You’ll see businesses recovering.”
The National Retail Federation reported December sales were up 8 percent from a year earlier despite the weather, thanks to heavy marketing and holiday promotions. At least one local business is also thriving in the wintry weather.
“It’s been hectic, crazy, in a good way,” said Simonnee Butler of Nelson’s Hardware and Supplies in Cave Springs. “We’re selling out of ice melt, of course, then lots of snow shovels, sleds and feed. It’s been good for business for sure.”
Sales of plumbing supplies, livestock feed and space heaters all are up compared to past years, she added.
“The last few, we’ve had such mild winters and at this time last year, it was already spring,” Butler said. “This year has been a lot busier.”
Rose Ann Pearce, Joel Walsh, Kate Ward and Ron Wood contributed to this report.