By Christina Johnson
The hyped-up anticipation of Tuesday’s blizzard may have brought an avalanche of shoppers to supermarkets, liquor stores, but other Red Bank-area merchants were forced to freeze operations and lost sales.
“The economy really suffered,” said Lynda Rose, president of the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce. “However, everyone was shopping their brain out the day before,” she said. “Supermarkets probably did double the business.”
Liquor stores were hopping, as the dire weather forecast solidified the prospect of being snowed in Tuesday. “The world was going to end and they weren’t going to be stuck in the house without a buzz on,” said John Watts, the general manager at Spirits Unlimited on Newman Springs Road in Red Bank. Business was “unreal,” he said. “They couldn’t get here quick enough.” Watts managed to open all three days, and said he sold a lot of beer and margarita mix.
As meteorologists predicted there could be as much as three feet of snow, plow operators like Mike Ivanciu of Matawan rejoiced. He had just opened his company, called IF Snow Services, and was raring to make money to offset expenses. “We expected the worse-case scenario, so we were really disappointed. What did we get, 8 inches?” Still, he hustled, traveling from Marlboro to Middletown, plowing out powder from long winding driveways. He said the company is now on track to break even this year.
For George Lyristis, the owner of three restaurants, there is no silver lining in a whiteout. As early as Sunday, business died down in his eateries, as people hunkered down at home. He closed Teak Restaurant, The Bistro at Red Bank and Zoe Mediterranean Bistro on Monday at 4 p.m., and reopened 24 hours later. He figures he actualy lost three days of business and lots of perishables, which now have to be discarded. “And this is not the kind of business you make your money back in,” he said.
Red Bank Limo owner Bill Atkins chose to park his company’s Lincoln Towncars and Suburbans when the airlines started canceling flights and the roads got treacherous on Monday, and lost a day and a half of business. “We would have been off the road anyway, for safety reasons,” he said. “We’re very big on safety.”
But the best is yet to come for Chuck Siebert, the general manager of Butch’s Lube N’ Wash in Red Bank. After being closed two long days, he’s hoping for a parade of salty, dirty cars anyday now –and expects he’ll get it as soon as the slush is gone and customers can return home with a gleaming clean car. “This business is such a roller coaster,” he said. “In a couple of days, when the secondary roads are in better condition, we’re probably going to have a pretty good weekend. “
The hyped-up anticipation of Tuesday’s blizzard may have brought an avalanche of shoppers to supermarkets, liquor stores, but other Red Bank-area merchants were forced to freeze operations and lost sales.
“The economy really suffered,” said Lynda Rose, president of the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce. “However, everyone was shopping their brain out the day before,” she said. “Supermarkets probably did double the business.”
Liquor stores were hopping, as the dire weather forecast solidified the prospect of being snowed in Tuesday. “The world was going to end and they weren’t going to be stuck in the house without a buzz on,” said John Watts, the general manager at Spirits Unlimited on Newman Springs Road in Red Bank. Business was “unreal,” he said. “They couldn’t get here quick enough.” Watts managed to open all three days, and said he sold a lot of beer and margarita mix.
As meteorologists predicted there could be as much as three feet of snow, plow operators like Mike Ivanciu of Matawan rejoiced. He had just opened his company, called IF Snow Services, and was raring to make money to offset expenses. “We expected the worse-case scenario, so we were really disappointed. What did we get, 8 inches?” Still, he hustled, traveling from Marlboro to Middletown, plowing out powder from long winding driveways. He said the company is now on track to break even this year.
For George Lyristis, the owner of three restaurants, there is no silver lining in a whiteout. As early as Sunday, business died down in his eateries, as people hunkered down at home. He closed Teak Restaurant, The Bistro at Red Bank and Zoe Mediterranean Bistro on Monday at 4 p.m., and reopened 24 hours later. He figures he actualy lost three days of business and lots of perishables, which now have to be discarded. “And this is not the kind of business you make your money back in,” he said.
Red Bank Limo owner Bill Atkins chose to park his company’s Lincoln Towncars and Suburbans when the airlines started canceling flights and the roads got treacherous on Monday, and lost a day and a half of business. “We would have been off the road anyway, for safety reasons,” he said. “We’re very big on safety.”
But the best is yet to come for Chuck Siebert, the general manager of Butch’s Lube N’ Wash in Red Bank. After being closed two long days, he’s hoping for a parade of salty, dirty cars anyday now –and expects he’ll get it as soon as the slush is gone and customers can return home with a gleaming clean car. “This business is such a roller coaster,” he said. “In a couple of days, when the secondary roads are in better condition, we’re probably going to have a pretty good weekend. “
