With yet another storm in the forecast, small businesses say they are in trouble even before the flakes fall.
“Just the threat of having snow will slow our business up for the day or the next couple of days,” says John Paindiris, the owner of Effie’s Place Family Restaurant in West Hartford.
As the snow falls, our frigid temperatures are not promoting melting. Thus, snow piles are turning to rock and taking up valuable parking spaces. A.C. Petersen’s Restaurant, in West Hartford, says Old Man Winter has claimed about a dozen of their parking spaces.
“At some point, we may have to have the snow trucked away so we can gain those spaces back, depending on how bad this next storm is,” said Bill Denton, who has owned the restaurant with his wife for 12 years.
Every snowstorm causes consternation for Paindiris, whose family has owned the Park Road restaurant for 24 years. They have so few parking spaces that it is imperative that they have their snow carted away after nearly every storm of significance.
“Every month it costs us into the thousands to keep the parking lot clean. Then, you couple that with the lost business and it really makes for a difficult winter,” added Paindiris.
Private plowing contractors are even looking forward to spring. That is due, in part, to the fact that some sign contracts that pay them a lump sum, prior to winter, no matter how many times they are required to plow.