THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180372
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN AND BILL REED, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
All was quiet at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Virginia Beach Thursday morning. And that was bad news for business.
``It's horrible, just horrible,'' groaned Courtney Ritter, assistant general manager for the high-rise Oceanfront hotel. ``I wish it would hit or go away.''
Elsewhere, Home Quarters' Janaf store manager Buddy Kerr watched customers snap up the extra supplies of batteries and plywood he'd ordered in anticipation of Hurricane Felix's arrival.
Grain farmer Eddie Vaughn worried that driving rain might decimate corn crops and make harvesting impossible if the predicted storm surges submerged Virginia Beach's southern rural areas.
Hampton Roads hasn't felt the effects of Hurricane Felix yet, but its businesses and companies have already been hit.
The storm sitting off the Carolina coast has blessed some and cursed others.
While Felix didn't make landfall in Virginia Beach, it did hit resort businesses squarely in the pocketbook to the tune of about $2.1 million a day in losses, the city's tourism office said Thursday.
``We figure on a good day in August, we should bring in $3 million in restaurant, hotel and retail sales,'' said Ron Kuhlman. The marketing director for the city's Convention and Tourism Development Department said the sum was an estimate.
The loss estimate was based on the two-day storm chasing away visitors and reducing Oceanfront hotel occupancy to about 30 percent, Kuhlman and other tourism officials said.
``From a business standpoint, this couldn't have happened at a worse time,'' said Henry Richardson, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association. ``From another perspective, we are very lucky we didn't get hit.''
Wayne Smith, president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association, said he boarded up and closed his Shore Drive business - Alexander's on the Bay - after hearing and reading news accounts of the hurricane's approach.
``It put us out of a day of business - about $4,000 worth,'' he said.
Commerce resumed Thursday along the Hampton Roads waterfront after the port was reopened by the Coast Guard. Several cargo ships that had been delayed by the storm have been rescheduled.
The port didn't lose any business because competing ports up and down the East Coast had the same problem, said Joseph Dorto, general manager and chief executive of Virginia International Terminals Inc., which manages the three state-owned port terminals.
But the terminals have called for extra shifts and will work around the clock to meet additional needs, he said.
Few construction projects have moved forward in the lull before the storm. The delay has cost Turner Construction between $7,000 and $8,000 a day - or about a fourth of his company's daily revenue, said president Curtis Cole. His construction sites were boarded up Wednesday in preparation of Felix's strong winds. Employees are at home, on leave without pay.
A number of boat facilities, including Lynnhaven Marine-Boatel, closed entirely. At Waterside Marina, manager Mike Evans' recording said, ``Our facility is closed while we spend a little quality time with Felix.''
In contrast, some businesses enjoyed greater sales than usual thanks to the excitement Felix stirred up.
``More than half our business Wednesday was from tourists who came up this way,'' said Waldenbooks manager Margaret Irizarry about Outer Banks and Virginia Beach tourists. ``They were looking for other places to go. One man was looking for tour guides to Pennsylvania, because he figured he could take the family there to get away from the storm.''
At The Limited in Lynnhaven Mall, manager Vicki Cope said, ``Everybody played hooky from work and went shopping.''
The Food Lion on Airline Boulevard raked in more than $100,000 in two days, said Valarie Burnett, an office employee who handles store receipts. The Portsmouth store usually takes in between $25,000 and $30,000 on average.
The Naro Expanded Video store in Norfolk's Ghent neighborhood tripled its usual sales on Wednesday night as customers anticipated being holed up in their homes. The Owl Creek Pet Hotel in Virginia Beach had to turn away pet owners because the kennel already had taken 70 animals. It was only half of the facility's capacity, said manager Cheryl Clark, but they were worried about potential water and power problems if the storm hit.
``For the safety of the animals and their well-being, we stopped taking them in,'' she said. Otherwise, Clark said, they would have been booked to capacity.
The Exxon gas station on the intersection of Lynnhaven Parkway and Princess Anne Road ran out of regular and supreme gas, an employee said. Three nearby gas stations also posted ``out of gas'' signs as tourists and others tried to flee from the hurricane's path.
The Hospitality House, the Fort Magruder Inn and other hotels around Williamsburg reported increased business over the past two days as tourists continued their northward migration from the Outer Banks seeking refuge from Felix.
Chesapeake Rent All watched firms rent all 14 of its generators on Tuesday. It also sold several chain saws as people prepared to cut off tree branches after the storm.
``We're rather rent them because people need them for a day, not because of these situations with storms,'' said manager Bill Gottschalk.
``You don't want to make your living off victims of a storm.'' MEMO: Staff writers Tony Wharton, Chris Dinsmore, Karen Weintraub and Kerry
Dougherty contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Bella Pizza, on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, protected its windows
and its customer base.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB