Jan. 20—It's been a difficult week for local retailers unable to open because of icy roads, and a National Weather Service meteorologist projected they will have to wait a little longer for relief.
Andrew Pritchett, of the Weather Service's Huntsville office, said Friday afternoon that, after a Friday night with wind chills as low as minus 10 degrees, "we'll be lucky to reach 20 degrees" on Saturday.
"It will be a bitterly, dangerous cold day," Pritchett said.
Pritchett said the only hope for the improvement of the roads on Saturday is the sun and wind melting some of the ice. NWS has said it expects to issue a wind advisory for 10 p.m. Saturday to noon Sunday, and the low Saturday night is expected to be 8 degrees.
The frigid weekend comes after a long week in which many local businesses had to close. Streets were iced over, employees were stuck at home, and daily advisories from state and local governments said to stay off the roads.
Some businesses along the main routes like U.S. 31/Sixth Avenue and Beltline Road opened Thursday, but Shops on 2nd Avenue and Tammy Eddy Antiques and Interiors — both on ice-packed downtown streets — didn't open until Friday.
Joey Crews, owner of Shops on 2nd Avenue, tried to look at the lost week optimistically. His business offers space for 39 different gift and art stores.
"This is usually our slowest week of the year anyway," Crews said. "So, I'm working on merchandise, payroll and doing my taxes."
The business did two live shows on its website, shopson2nd.com. Employee Caroline Mitchell did shows on scarves on Tuesday and sweaters on Thursday. The online videos prompted some sales, which helped offset the lost week of in-person sales at the store, Crews said.
David and Tammy Eddy, of Tammy Eddy Antiques and Interiors, opened their store for the first time this week on Friday and they planned to be open Saturday.
David was outside shoveling ice from the front entrance Friday while Tammy was inside working on inventory. She said the closure and lack of customers gave her time to catch up on the details that keep her business operating.
"There's always plenty to do when you own a small business," she said. "We're expecting a shipment today, and I'm pricing inventory from a previous shipment."
She said she is confident the closure was only a temporary setback.
"It is a loss of revenue, but we have such a wonderful client base that they'll come back as soon as this is over," Tammy said. "We've been doing this for 34 years. We've dealt with these sorts of things before."