Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401230080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
- From log of a retail grocer
Larry LaCroix kept a diary last week, or he might not have known what happened which day.
"It's been unbelievable," the vice president of retail operations for Kroger Co.'s Mid-Atlantic stores said Friday.
In his region of 117 stores, 94 were in areas experiencing bad weather, and the remaining 23 had to be served by the Roanoke warehouse, which was socked in, too.
One driver who went to Kentucky last weekend didn't get home to Roanoke until Friday morning at 3.
LaCroix said there were times when he couldn't get supplies in or orders out to stores.
Funny thing, though. The miserable, icy weather that kept customers away might end up not affecting some businesses much.
"We had record sales the Sunday before, so it balanced out," LaCroix said. "It's just the way it fell."
"The net position is about zero," agreed Tom Sheets, manager of New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg.
Older shoppers stayed home, but since Virginia Tech was closed, students shopped, he said.
He, like all retailers, was anticipating a swell in sales Saturday and today as temperatures rose above freezing.
However, some business people said the sales boost from higher temperatures won't offset a long and lonely week of missed opportunities.
"We had nobody in the mall the first couple of days of the week . . . 10 to 12 people walking through," said Judy Tullius, manager of Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County.
The mall's indoor sidewalk sale, which continues through today, increased traffic near the weekend, she said.
Friday was the first day that Roanoke Valley malls were open on a full schedule.
"The weather has been terrible all week, and so is business," said Joe Curulla, manager of Davidson's men's store at Tanglewood Mall. "By the time we got open and business started, temperatures began to drop, and everyone went home."
Donna Caldwell, manager of Spencer Gifts at Valley View Mall in Roanoke, said her daytime sales kept up with last year's, "but we lost it at night."
Weather nudged some people into purchases they had delayed, though. Men who didn't have topcoats and gloves went to hunt for them, said Curulla.
And George Pelton, owner of First Team Hyundai Suzuki Inc., said "people have bought four-wheel drives."
But, Pelton added, "we haven't sold cars."
People also canceled appointments for their vehicles at garages and for their pets at the vet's.
"I know everyone's been hurting," said Jeff Wingo, a supervisor at Western Sizzlin' in Blacksburg.
Receipts dropped off probably 50 percent on Monday and 20 to 30 percent the other days, he said. And that was with the Tech students in town.
Similar woes were heard from T.J. VanDyke, owner of the Huckleberry Inn in Christiansburg, just off Interstate 81.
VanDyke said he took comfort, though, in the fact that January, February and March are normally the slowest months of the year.
The weeklong chill meant virtual disaster at Mountain View Market & Italian Kitchen in Ironto. "This is the first day we've been open since Saturday night," waitress Lisa East said Thursday.
Last Sunday, the power went out and the pipes froze, she said. There were at least two other power outages during the week.
Thursday she was just happy to have one dining room table full of customers, some call-in orders and a couple of reservations for the night.
Alexander's, a popular lunch and dinner place in downtown Roanoke, took a hit from canceled reservations when a group's speaker couldn't get into the city because airports were closed.
Unlike retailers, who wanted for customers, some companies had everything they needed to operate as normal - but the weather or the strain on electricity made it difficult.
Despite the bitter cold, loggers were able to supply Westvaco at Covington with pulp wood, but the paper mill had trouble chipping the wood so it could be used in paper-making.
Because wood is 50 percent water, it's hard as concrete when it's frozen, said spokesman Ron Dowing.
At the Norfolk Southern Corp. coal piers in Norfolk, shiploading moved at half its normal pace. Coal was frozen in rail cars, and the railroad had cut electricity use in its thawing sheds by 15 percent, said Taylor Quarles, director of operations for NS.
Work at NS shops in Roanoke was curtailed when the railroad cut off two large compressors and delayed the startup of a large electrical furnace in the shops' foundry because Appalachian Power Co. asked businesses to conserve power.
Demands for electricity were sky high, and natural gas pressure was low because its movement was slowed by the cold. With weather 27 percent colder than normal, furnaces ran overtime - and some natural gas users will find out how much overtime this week.
The bills that Roanoke Gas Co. printed Friday showed a $17 to $26 increase, said spokesman Rob Glenn.
The weather proved to be a bonus and a booby prize.
Laura Boyer, a manager at King Video in Christiansburg, welcomed the cold and ice.
"When the weather's bad, we're the busiest," she said. "Even when the roads are bad, people will try to make it out here. They'll walk over here."
Reporters Stephen Foster, Greg Edwards and Mag Poff contributed to this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***