City businesses affected by snow

Even private detectives were out of luck this month, when a series of paralyzing snow and ice storms shut down the city for days on end. This winter's uncommonly bitter weather, which caused the University to close three times this semester, has put a particular strain on small businesses in the Philadelphia area, many employees said this week. Fred Johnson, an employee at the Masso Detective Agency in Philadelphia, said he and his colleagues "had trouble getting out places" to do investigations. He said it is particularly difficult to locate missing persons when you "can't even find a place to park" because of snow blocked roadways. Dan Watkins, owner of the Dan Watkins & Son Chimney Service, has also seen financial difficulties because of the weather. He said that while "a lot more people want to use their fireplaces with the cold weather," his workers have had trouble getting on to the customer's roofs to fix the chimneys. "You can't do anything when there's a foot of snow on the roof," Watkins said. Animal lovers have been less apt to take their dogs and cats to pet-grooming services because of the bad road conditions and snow covered parking lots, said Beth Egbert, and employee at Bob's Pet Shop in Elkins Park. She said she "hopes to see an incline in business" now that the air temperatures have warmed. Egbert added that she is sure the fur on her customers' pets has grown "really long by now." Dawn Pinyard, an employee at Imperial Auto Tags on Frankford Avenue, said her business, like Egbert's, suffered because her customers could not find parking places. "There's no parking because the streets aren't plowed," she said. "And we're on a major street." But Philadelphia Streets and Highways Department Spokesperson Cynthia Williams disagreed, saying that Frankford Avenue -- a four-lane road running through Northeast Philadelphia -- is really a "small street." "It wouldn't be feasible to salt or plow every street in the city," Williams said. "We don't have that kind of money." She added that her department is "doing the best that we can." Pinyard said she has some "negative feelings toward the city" for not plowing Frankford Avenue. But Al Kudowski, an employee at K-Mart in Northeast Philadelphia, said the problem does not lie with the unplowed streets. He said that although the bargain department store has sold out all of their space heaters, electric blankets, shovels and anti-freeze, less customers than usual have shopped there because "people can't get out of their driveways." And while icy and unplowed roadways might have caused many Philadelphia drivers to keep their cars in their driveways, a dispatcher for the City Cab Company said taxi companies have seen less business as well because of the weather. He said that he has gotten so many calls for cabs during the past two months that he has "more jobs than we can handle." While the season's chronic cold weather might have put cobwebs on the cash registers of most Philadelphia businesses, other businesses have flourished. Jeff Phillips, manager of the Palm Restaurant on Broad Street said his restaurant has seen more patrons than usual during the past two months. He explained people staying in the Bellevue Hotel, which houses the expensive restaurant, often ate there because their stays in Philadelphia were extended due to cancelled flights and blocked roadways. Diane Russell, who works at the Guest Services desk at the Sheraton Hotel -- Society Hill, said she too has seen a tremendous increase in business because of the weather. She said cancelled flights and power shortages in area homes gave the the hotel 100 percent occupancy for "most of the really bad weather days." "We were so full that there were people we couldn't accommodate," Russell added.