“Small business and the cold crunch” transcript

O/C:

As people enjoy their last frolic in the leaves, winter is quietly rearing its ugly head. There is an above average snowfall expected this winter which could pose a threat to business downtown.

Jennifer Carpenter, Bejewel:

For Bejewel, we’ve been finding the cool weather is making people start thinking about Christmas so we’ve actually had people in this week thinking about doing their Christmas shopping, so the cooler weather is actually a little better for business than the warmer weather.

V/O:

Jennifer Carpenter works at Bejewel, a small downtown business.

Jennifer Carpenter, Bejewel:

“Winter time up until Christmas is great. People love to shop downtown, you know, the malls are kind of crazy and nuts so they prefer to shop downtown and then once winter’s over, then we get a couple of slow months but, it’s still bearable”

V/O:

The snowiest periods are expected to be in mid- and late November, late January and mid-February. Winter will be its coldest at mid- and late January and mid-February. Greg Brewer works at Eastside Board Sports. It specializes in both summer and winter gear. Since half their business is winter-based, he believes that Eastside won’t be that affected.

Greg Brewer, Eastside Board Sports:

“People on Queen St., I’d say it slows down quite a bit in the winter time and, the fall’s not too bad. But for shops like us where we sell snowboard products and winter gear then we can kind of benefit in a way from that. We do okay. It does slow down quite a bit, but we get through it.”

Stand up:

Businesses in the downtown area aren’t feeling the cold crunch of winter yet. Store owners feel that the Christmas rush will make up for any lost sales. It might not be until the new year that businesses see a hit to their bottom line. Nathen Swain,  STU Basement Tapes. Downtown,  Fredericton.

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Posted by Special Report on Oct 29, 2009. Filed under Transcripts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.