ATHENS, Ala. — Recent icy weather conditions in the Rocket City and surrounding areas left many stuck inside this past week. Now, that is putting a strain on some small businesses. FOX54 took a stroll to downtown Athens to hear from of a few of the owners first-hand.
Tammy Strickland, owner of Bean Beans Boutique said she's a single mom, and it's been tough.
"Of course, you know, there's there's nothing coming in. I mean, you know the doors have been shut." Due to recent weather conditions, Strickland is also currently without heat. "The central unit just in these temperatures are not able to keep up. So, we're having to dress in layers."
Pimentos store owner Teresa Brodie explained that this has also impacted her business financially. "So financially, you just stop and think about a whole week's worth of income. So you're looking here for us at five days of being closed and even though we're open today, it's still very slow."
Another one of Brodie's top concerns is no shipments.
"We're expecting new shipments to come in last week, have new merchandise, and we didn't get it in because trucks weren't, you know, moving, and so therefore we missed that we weren't here ourselves. So even if they did come, we couldn't accept the shipment because we weren't here. So we're impacted in a lot of ways." said Brodie.
These local business owners say they're looking forward to next week as weather conditions are expected to improve. They're just looking forward to more business, seeing their customers and just moving forward in a positive light.
"We love what we do. I mean, all of us who have our local businesses in our live in our dreams, and you know that some we would just appreciate all the support," said Strickland.