
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995                   TAG: 9508210049
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                 LENGTH: Medium

FELIX BATTERS BEACH PROFITS

Cherie Smith spent $150 taking down the green-and-pink striped awning over her oceanfront coffee bar in anticipation of destructive winds from Hurricane Felix. On Friday, she spent $350 putting it back up as the storm sputtered harmlessly off the Virginia coast.

Smith estimates the hurricane cost her 40 percent of her business for the week without ever coming close to her shop. She was closed down Wednesday and Thursday, and business was slow Friday morning as tourists trickled back to the resort area.

``We got killed,'' she said.

Next door at Sunsations, the largest trinket and T-shirt shop on the beachfront, business was so slow Friday that only half the usual staff of 10 was on duty.

``We're having a little hurricane sale to try to drum up business,'' manager Dexter Haynes said.

Along the boardwalk and the oceanfront business streets, many of the businesses that boarded up shop took their protection down Friday. Gov. George Allen lifted the state of emergency he had declared three days earlier.

Heavy surf warnings did not deter a few surfers and bathers who enjoyed a perfect beach day of bright sunshine and a light breeze.

Virginia Beach officials estimate the city lost $2.1 million a day this week in beach-related revenue. Hotels, restaurants and retailers reported business was off by 70 percent, said Ron Kuhlman, marketing director for the city's Department of Convention and Visitor Development.

Felix looked ferocious Tuesday night and early Wednesday, when most of the guests at Henry Richardson's two ocean hotels packed for home.

All 38 rooms at his beachfront Rodeway Inn were empty Wednesday, he said, although some of the patrons moved inland to another hotel he owns.

``We were concerned for their safety,'' he said.

By Thursday afternoon, when forecasters said it was unlikely Felix would turn and head for land, the damage was done. Hotel reservations are well below the usual late-summer weekend figures, but hoteliers hoped Friday's lovely weather would entice uncertain vacationers.

``We're a little bit encouraged. A number of guests are reinstating their reservations,'' said Richardson, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association. ``But needless to say it's been a little disastrous.''

by CNB