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At least once a week, employees of West Linn restaurant Sushi Kuni travel to Seattle to buy fresh imported fish and seafood. Owner Agatha Chan said she risked a drive north through a winter storm to pick up this week’s order.
“Since we have already paid for the order, we cannot stop the shipment from Japan,” she said. “It’s quite dangerous, but even though we paid an intermediary for customs clearance, the fish was just abandoned at the airport, so we had no choice but to take it back.”
However, the slippery roads make it nearly impossible for Chan’s 15 or so employees to come to work, and without them, the restaurant cannot operate. Most of the fish end up being discarded.
For Chan, who started the restaurant in July 2022, having the restaurant closed for a week is a “significant financial burden.”
“I’m having a really hard time right now,” she said. “I had zero income last week, so how am I going to pay my bills, my rent, and my employees?”
Thousands of businesses lost sales after a week of snow and ice, and thousands more lost sales after power outages forced them to close and damaged inventory. (Additionally, many stores sustained damage from the storm, including burst pipes.) Like grocery stores, customers who still need meals stock up before the storm and restock their pantries afterward. Some stores may see little impact on profits.
Other businesses, like Chan’s restaurant, will be lucky to recover at all after the storm, much less make up for lost sales from a week of closures.
Todd Ruberg, senior partner and retail and consumer products analyst at Lake Oswego-based consulting firm Sympactful, says businesses that tend to be hit hardest during severe winter weather include restaurants and non-profit businesses such as: It said it is a small business that sells essential consumer goods. Apparel and other gifts.
“Restaurants are in the worst situation because eating out usually doesn’t increase when things get back to normal,” Ruberg said. “That means any sales lost during the event period tend to be completely lost. You don’t recover any of it.”
Similarly, smaller apparel shops rely on steady foot traffic for sales, but lack the resources and labor of larger retailers during inclement weather, he said.
“The ones that will be hit the most are small businesses. You know, they pay their employees an hourly wage,” he said.
Luberg also said that January and February are typically slow months for many companies. He said a weaker economy in January could force some retailers to cut prices early to clear inventory.
That’s what Sadie Sifuentes, the owner of Quad’s Garden flower shop in Fairview, is facing now. Her store has been closed since last Saturday, and last night she put all of her stock of fresh produce, such as cut flowers, up for sale, hoping to capture some of the sales, but her other pre-ordered stock has gotten in the way. It’s also to give away.
Cifuentes said she had to cancel all flower delivery orders due to road conditions, and events she was scheduled to deliver flowers to were also cancelled. She said she lost a lot of her money ordering flowers for a funeral that was postponed to next week. The flowers had to be thrown away and will have to be reordered next week.
“The income from the store pays my bills, my family home and the store,” Sifuentes said. “Due to COVID-19, we have restructured our business and learned different ways to generate income. But with snow and ice like this, everything is hampered.”
Sifuentes said she was preparing to decorate her store for Valentine’s Day, but now she’s worried that another winter weather event like last year will come in February.
“If this had happened during Valentine’s week, we would have lost a lot more numbers. Because how much do roses cost at wholesale prices these days, and how much do we need to stock and sell?” “Think about it,” she said. “We don’t know what the weather will be like anymore.”
– Kristin De Leon; kdeleon@oregonian.com
January winter storm
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