Retailers weathered the storm!


Charlotte arrived late Friday night and as predicted and was a bona fide blizzard. I had thirty inches of snow in my drive way and the highways were closed in Connecticut until 4:00 pm Saturday afternoon. Saturday was devoted to clearing snow and waiting for the roads to be plowed. So on Sunday morning about 7am I ventured out in search of my newspapers and coffee and to just to check things out, cabin fever had set in. While out I drove by my health club and noticed the entrance and parking lot were only partially plowed. The gas station where I purchase my newspapers was open as was the Panera Bread where I have coffee. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts the super markets were also open. Out of curiosity I checked out another local health club and saw their parking lot was plowed but they had a sign pasted on the door they would reopen on Monday. I realize this is a small sample group but nonetheless here’s my take on those businesses who chose to be open and those that didn’t, it’s called financial incentive. The retailers opened because there was an opportunity to do business and generate revenue. The health clubs on the other hand bill members either monthly or yearly depending on the member’s contract. There was no financial incentive for the health clubs to open even later in the day on Sunday other than possibly customer service. I polled a number of the members of my health club this morning for their opinions and some agreed with me and others felt staying closed with the right thing to do. In the final analysis if I owned the club I would have opened mid- day Sunday to accommodate the members, it’s called customer service. Most retailers I know clearly understand the concept.