LETTER: Please Support Falls Church City Businesses

By BECKY WITSMAN
July 10, 2012

Nearly all of us were impacted in one way or another with the recent storm. Some suffered through hot days with no air conditioning, some of us had to clean out our refrigerators and throw away significant amounts of food, some of us had to wait in lines to get gas and some of us spent money to stay in a hotel to try to avoid as much of the discomfort of it all as possible. Luckily, many of us were not scheduled to work over the weekend, when the storm’s aftermath and impact was greatest, so we didn’t feel the effect of the storm so directly to our paycheck.

But many of our “Little City” retail, service and restaurant business owners, managers and employees were not so fortunate and they are feeling the impact in many ways. Most of them could not open their doors for business over the weekend (and many into mid-week!) because they had no electricity. Consider too that the weekend represents the most profitable part of the week for many of our businesses. So, not only did many businesses fail to make any money over the weekend, they also lost money if they had to throw away any refrigerated items – like our restaurants, grocery stores and other shops that sell food. Employees who counted on income from wages or tips will feel the impact severely; many lost out on a significant amount of their monthly income. Our businesses also still have to pay their rent, vendors, utilities, etc, regardless of whether or not they had a good or bad weekend and paying those bills this month will no doubt be a challenge.

None of us could have prevented this most recent storm from doing the damage that it did, but we can all be mindful of how much our businesses would especially appreciate our patronage at a very difficult time.

Becky Witsman is Business Development Manager for the City of Falls Church