MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The recent snow days in the Mid-South have closed many businesses down, affecting their sales and employees’ wages.
Richard Wright drove up to Memphis from Coldwater, Mississippi to take advantage of Tuesday’s snow day by selling firewood.
“Usually, we come during the snow time to try and get rid of the wood, help people stay warm,” he said.
Wright said the morning got off to a slow start, so he hopes sales will be worth the trip.
“We had to drive like 15-20 miles per hour just to drive slow all the way up here and it’s going to be very bad getting back also.”
One business thriving by willing to be on the roads is Domino’s Pizza, LLC. They’re one of the only pizza places around town that’s been open for delivery since Friday’s snow day.
Madeline Demetrious, an assistant manager at one of the Mid-South stores, said in one hour, they made what they usually do in four hours because there have been so many calls.
“I kid you not, in one minute, eight orders popped up on the screen for delivery,” said Demetrious. “It was mostly delivery at night.”
She said they had to close early each night this weekend due to the backlog of orders and said the website tracker wasn’t keeping up with the real time orders in the store, which were getting up to a four to five hour wait.
She said she’s thankful for the customers who’ve been understanding and for the employees who were able to make it in.
However, many jobs across town shut down for the snow, including on construction sites.
“Safety is first and foremost with all of us in the construction business and so, we got to look after the safety of our people and the public as it relates to working and being around our job sites,” said Don Sloan, estimator for Chris Woods Construction Company.
Sloan said many employees earn hourly wages but will likely all be able to earn the hours back when the weather clears up.
“We just try to work through it and get back on schedule,” he said.
We heard a similar mindset from others losing business right now, from hairdressers to servers, hoping the crowds will be back when the roads are safe.
