Cold brings brisk business for some, slow days for others

A lone woman makes the bone-chilling trek across the campus at Cottey College Friday morning. --Photos by Lynn A. Wade/Herald-Tribune

The latest snow storm and single-digit or sub-zero temperatures late this week have created some hazardous driving conditions, caused school closings, canceled organizational meetings, closed offices and led to slow retail sales for some stores in the city of Nevada.

Some businesses are more affected than others, but for the most part local retailers have seen a drop in sales because, "No one wants to get out when it's bad," according to Lowell Ryals, manager of the Dollar General Store at Austin and Osage. Ryals said that even though his store does get some overflow from the adjacent supermarket and laundromat, his store's business has been "severely affected."

One business that has been affected, but not so severely, is the Woods Supermarket on the west side of town. "We get really busy when a storm is coming and then slow down afterward," said manager Lance Raven. He said the new video rental machine has done well. While a worker using the overhead speaker in the store announced "a frozen meat sale -- that's in the store, not the parking lot," Raven said, "Weather is always a challenge for retailers," and during times like this, one of the biggest challenges is just getting people in to work and back home safely.

A bank display indicated the temperature was 5 degrees.

That sentiment was echoed by Domino's Pizza manager, Daniel May. Many employees don't want to come in on the slick roads. May also said that even though they ordinarily deliver 3 miles out, he probably wouldn't be willing to send his drivers out under the present road conditions. May attributes the weather and some changes in their pizza to the brisk sales they have seen during the bad weather.

Another business that has seen a spike in customers is the Family Video store. They have been very busy keeping up with an approximate 50-percent increase in rentals since the weather turned cold. School being out has a lot to do with that and it is reflected in the type of rentals the store has going out. Manager Kaila Beisley said the family movies have been doing well and so have different games like the Wii games.

Stores that sell bigger ticket items like appliances have seen a drop in customers coming through the door. Scott Ring of Ring TV and Appliance said things always slow down a bit after Christmas, but the weather has certainly played a factor in sales this week, even though the service end of the business has stayed fairly even.

Only a few cars dotted the parking lot in front of one of Nevada's retail stores. Many retailers report slow traffic during the recent storm and cold snap. --Rusty Murry/Herald-Tribune

There are some things that folks must have during even the worst weather, and one of those is food. Staple foods have been selling well at the grocery stores, including Wal-Mart. Many customers did their shopping in advance of the storm, according to manager Gary Decocq.

Cold weather items like gloves and hats and deicing materials are selling well, but bad weather is keeping some shoppers away, said Decocq. Things may pick up some in the next few days as warmer temperatures are forecast for the weekend and coming week.