How does your business deal with extreme and/or unpredictable weather? 🥶 🥵

[isabelle]

Hey sellers! 🌎 

This week we're wondering....

How does your business deal with extreme and/or unpredictable weather? 🥶 🥵

Is your business impacted? If yes, how so? We look forward to reading your replies! 🤓

[TCSlaguna · Accepted solution]

We do not get much bad weather in Laguna Beach, CA. Occasionally we will have a tsunami warning, like we did on January 15th. There were no evacuation orders, and sales were not affected. Extreme heat brings people to the beach, we appreciate that. 

Last week we had an accident on the main road into town, shutting down traffic for hours. THAT really impacted business. 

[OldCoder]

As I hand them their receipt I'll say stay warm or stay dry depending on whether it's snow or rain. 

[Minion]

Pretty much sums how I deal with the drastic heat or cold in NNY 

1st and 2nd Summer

The rest of the year...

[JUYBoutique20]

Here in Alaska the only way our business is really affected is if we close because of bad icy roads.  We have snow from approx. Oct timeframe til May with below 0 temps at times and if it's possible we're still out shopping....  

[Pesso]

The news of the fires & tragedies stemming from these record breaking heatwaves in the UK & Europe are absolutely heartbreaking and devastating.

How are you all holding up over there?

Are there any resources we could provide?

[DLRosenberg]

Amityville is located on the very south shore of Long Island in New York State. We are about 1 mile from the open bay and we are below sea level. While our area has never flooded before, with climate change, one can never be so sure.

We did just invest a good amount of money putting central air into our building- that is making it a lot more comfortable during the current heat wave we are in. Past few years we had window units in our very old (late 1800s) building and it was miserable.

[TCSlaguna]

Oh, I'm so jealous of your air conditioning! Our building is the third oldest in Laguna Beach, and we do not have air conditioning. While most of the time it is not an issue, there are about a dozen or so days that I wish we had air conditioning. 

[homeprogreen]

Look at putting in one of those ductless mini split systems. Very efficient and only 1 small hole thru an outer wall for installation. That’s what I put in my shop for heat & air. Works great 

[Crystal72]

I am so thankful the 1890's building my store is in has air conditioning!

[ReginaRMT]

@isabelle 

With being located in The Canadian prairies we are prepared for most extremes. Heat and cold will not stop anyone from coming in to see me. The only thing that will stop my business from opening is flooding from the roof. That is what happened yesterday. The sky opened up and let the rain come down in unrelenting waves. Only four offices not damaged including mine. I’ll be good to go tomorrow.

[Greenmonkey65]

Over the years we have seen a pattern with temperatures.  We find that when the weather goes extremely cold or hot like this summer for the first few days it will keep folks away but once they get used to it or just decided they don’t care they begin coming out again.  If it cools down they will come running back until the next increas of temps. 
We are a bottle shop with bar and gift shop. If we are open during a snowstorm people flock to us!! If it’s a rainy day they stay home.  If they loose power they come to us. 

[Abigails_stl]

We are located in St. Louis, MO. During summer its the days that aren't in the 90s or above that are slow for us because everyone is out enjoying the parks and outdoor activities. Hot days are usually good for us because if people want to get out of the house they still want to go someplace cool. In the winter, if we are forecasted for 4+ inches of snow we usually shut down once the streets start to get bad... because we have been getting ice on top of the snow. Fortunately within a day or two the snow is usually gone and its back to business. We did lose air conditioning at our gift store last week for a day and we were almost in panic mode when the first company said they couldn't fix it and we had to wait 3 days to have it replaced. Fortunately we got a second opinion and it was fixed later that day. We would have had to move lots and lots of candles until it was fixed!

[featheredfriend]

I always remain open, as much as humanly possible. Many businesses close for extreme weather, and I wind up getting all their guests in my restaurant and we do gangbusters with a minimum staff. 

The second you decide to close on a day you're typically open, guests will never forget it. They want reliability and consistency and you have to be there when they need you.

We make sure everyone is safe. If they can't make it to work, stay home. But as owners, we feel obligated to provide the community with our services. and we take pride in being able to offer it to those who MUST be out during inclement weather.

[Pawcasso]

We are the place to go when the weather gets bad!  Unless there is a foot of snow, we are open!

[MudFire_Deanna]

We have the luxury of pretty comfortable AC for the studio but for the kiln room - that is another story - temps can easily exceed 100 degrees and we have to change signage because customers can be very intolerant of the timeframe for firing. Kilns can't operate once the room is over 100 because it can damage the control panel and cause the kiln to stop firing. So I have to figure out a graph of temperature rise and fall in comparison to three room thermometers and calculate the time of the firing and juxtapose them to create a plan each day it is over 94 in the kiln room because I know that firing raises the temperature of the room easily by 6 degrees if the temperature isn't declining by 4-6pm each day.

[AsheSkyler]

To a degree. The reference photos I use to create portraits are on the computer, so if the power's out, work is out. And I don't fancy driving around a tornado to go to the post office, so shipments are suspended during inclement weather.

[riverbendbtq]

My shop is in a historic tourist area which sees mostly business in the summer for river tubing and kayaking and such. I stay open in the summer full 8 hour days but sometimes the extreme heat and humidity of Virginia keep the foot traffic down. Then In winter if it snows the local people stay home, and there's no tourists as well. In winter I lessen my hours. So I am very much impacted by the weather and my website doesn't do any business!

[homeprogreen]

Lol. I get it all up here. 16” of snow from a single storm. Power outages that last 3-4 days because PGE turns it off for fire danger, 105 degrees in the summer. Big fires, you name it we get it. I have back up systems in place to allow me to stay open. Big battery pack to run the Square register, Verizon jet pack to supply data connection, big battery powered flood lights so people can see inside the shop. Unless you’re in a hurricane the only thing preventing most businesses from staying open is lack of planning and preparation 

[bucklyncoffee]

We operate in midcoast maine. We have 9 months of winter-winterish weather and 3 months of Summer. We have to manually shovel our spot when it snows, however much. It can be daunting, but for the few customers you'll have, they'll be so grateful you're open. We also use an EZ up tent for when it's raining or, if it's too Sunny in Summer, so no one feels uncomfortable waiting in line. It lets them know you've thought about them.

[MoonDream369]

Simple, focus more on what you do have control over. My business is by the beach. I have six months of good weather, 3 months of ok, weather and then 3 months of bad weather. Having a business by the beach, the weather can effect revenue significantly. So, I replace fear with awareness. I know the summer wont last forever; in addition to bills and invoices still needing to be paid despite the weather. I choose to focus on strategy instead of fear or frustration. Greatest advise I could give regarding businesses who 's revenue is effected by the weather.