Bend businesses open doors to hardy customers
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 27, 2019
- A pair of road graders work on clearing snow from the street in a east Bend neighborhood on Tuesday. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)
Bend businesses shook off Monday’s snowstorm as quickly as possible and prepared to deal with another round of snow Tuesday night.
The historic snowfall kept some employees from reporting for work and delayed deliveries of supplies, but many businesses opened as usual by Tuesday.
Trending
Having figured out car pools for employees who live in Redmond, salon owner Drake Evinger said he hoped business would continue at a normal pace for the rest of the week.
“I’m hoping it lasts only a couple of days,” said Evinger, general manager of Avalon Salon in the Old Mill District. “Are we just shifting the revenue or is it going to be lost revenue altogether?”
Deschutes Brewery closed its plant and downtown pub early on Monday and was back to normal Tuesday, spokesperson Erin Rankin said.
The largest impact has been delays in shipments to and from the brewery, she said.
“But the duration of this storm cycle is much shorter than the winter of 2017 so will luckily have less of an impact,” Rankin said. “We currently have a healthy inventory in our warehouse, and most of our distributors are doing well on inventory as well.”
Some shops and restaurants in the Old Mill District also have been affected by delayed shipments, Old Mill Marketing Director Noelle Fredland said.
Trending
“There’s plenty of hardy people out there,” Fredland said.
Some Old Mill businesses, such as REI and the Regal Cinemas, tend to benefit from people taking time off work on snow days, she said.
Downtown Bend businesses also were open as usual, said Clayton Horn at Planker Sandwiches.
The shop closed early Monday but was busy making deliveries on Tuesday, he said.
“People are coming downtown ‘cause they have to work,” he said. “A lot of people are excited that we finally got some snow.”
Most of Planker’s employees made it to work, though those who don’t drive needed rides because sidewalks were impassible, Horn said.
He had no complaints about the city of Bend’s progress clearing snow around downtown.
“I think they’re doing fine, honestly,” he said.
— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com