Mayor Walsh Urges Residents To Shop Locally On Valentine's Day
BOSTON (CBS) – Between the snow and the MBTA, the past few weeks have been difficult for local businesses. Now, some owners worry about more snow this Valentine's Day weekend.
"I'm probably down about $45,000-50,000. That's about $12,000 a week and that hurts," says Carmelina's restaurant owner, Damien DiPaola.
DiPaola says it's more like Valentine's Day weekend because the holiday falls on a Saturday this year. He fears customers may cancel Saturday and Sunday due to the impending storm.
"Everyone is going to try to cram it in on Friday. Everyone is already booked on those three days. We can only do so much business. We can't make it up on one day," says DiPaola.
At Bunker Hill Florist in Charlestown, owner Joe Shadroui isn't worried about losing business, he's worried about finding parking for his drivers.
"At this point we should be sending out hummers! It's crazy," says Shadroui.
Shadroui is renting another van specifically for deliveries this weekend.
"It's definitely making it challenging. We are taking on extra drivers. We're having runners, so it's two people making the deliveries to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be when it's supposed to be," says Shadroui.
Mayor Marty Walsh is encouraging people to shop local by promoting #LoveonMain on Twitter.
"If you go out to dinner, use your local businesses, if you're buying candy, flowers, gifts," Mayor Walsh said Thursday, adding that they have been affected by the recent storms.
"This weather has been extremely difficult on our business community," Walsh said. "Don't forget our local businesses in the city because they have a taken a big hit."
