Business anything but usual

Many local businesses were forced to close because of the 14 inches of snow that blanketed the county Sunday.
And when they reopened, some were forced to catch up with time lost.
“It’s affected us, definitely,” said Laci Smitley, owner of Patriot Sportswear, 101 W. Main St. in Portland. “It set us behind some, but luckily I have a good team here and we’ve been able to pull through and get (orders) done in time.”
Smitley said she was able to make it into her embroidery and screen-printing shop Tuesday to help catch up. She opened her doors for business on Wednesday after a two-day closure.
She had to call some customers to tell them their orders would be slightly delayed, and she said they were all understanding of the situation.
“We’re still pretty much within our deadlines, so we look like we’re on track,” she said. “We’ll see how it works out.
At Upperkuts Salon & Spa, 101 N. Meridian St., Portland, which was also closed Monday and Tuesday, had to cancel appointments with clients, Krista Taylor said. She also added there was no problem in having to reschedule the appointments.
With the possibility of heavy snowfall in the forecast, Jay County Public Library director Eric Hinderliter said the library saw a higher volume of patrons leading up to the storm.
“People knew that it was coming, so they were stocking up on books, movies or whatever, since they knew they might be stuck in for a while,” he said.
But following the storm, he said it’s been slightly slower than normal.
Knowing people may have a tough time getting to the library to return items, Hinderliter said they backdated the check-ins so there weren’t any fines for any due dates during the time the library was closed.
Just like Patriot Sportswear and Upperkuts, JCPL was closed Monday and Tuesday.
When asked how the decision was made to close the library, Hinderliter said the decision was essentially made for him.
“When the county issued the travel warning and upgraded it to the highest level, it made the decision pretty easy at that point,” he said. “As long as it was under that level we’re looking at trying to be open.”
Now that the storm has left its mark on Jay County, Hinderliter said the main focus is keeping up with the parking lot and sidewalks. He has been in contact with the library’s snow removal service to make sure the outside isn’t hazardous for patrons.
“They’ve been really good,” he said. “They’ve kept our facilities up and in safe mode for everyone.”[[In-content Ad]]