Record Boston snow leaves businesses out in the cold
If Boston gets two more inches of snow, it will set an all-time record. The roughly nine feet of snow this winter has dampened dampened people's spirits and hurt the local economy, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.
At the Galley Diner in South Boston, there's plenty of the award-winning corned beef hash and eggs on the grill, but lately, they've been missing customers.
"Almost like a ghost town in the morning," co-owner Colleen Campbell said.
She runs the diner with her husband and said on a good day, 100 hungry customers come through the door.
But since the snowstorm has hit?
"The weekdays are awful," Campbell said. "One day, a few weeks ago we only had 15 customers the entire day."
Mark Gaelhood traveled to the city from Chicago and may be one of the few tourists visiting.
"We've had a bad winter ourselves and so you hear stories and you see the pictures, but I had no idea I'd be walking past 5-foot-high snow drifts and everything," Gaelhood said. "But it's great. I mean, it's totally worth it."
All across Boston, businesses are suffering. Paul Guzzi, head of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said the city is looking at a billion-dollar loss.
"That is a lot of money. Can we recoup some of it? We will recoup, but the business that the local restaurant doesn't do is not going to be recouped," Guzzi said.
The snow snarled transportation in the city and some people can't get to work. Mounds of snow are simply in the way everywhere, leaving local shoppers and tourists alike nowhere to walk, or park. Many just aren't shopping.
At Campbell's diner, they're wait for spring to mark and end to a season that she said has been impossible for small business owners.
"You really can't do much about it, it's Mother Nature, so there's nothing much you can do. You just have to roll with the punches, you know?" Campbell said.
Who is making money this winter? People willing to do a little legwork - whether it's the kid down the street with a shovel, or people who use Task Rabbit to run errands. Others have turned to a widely used app Plowz and Mowz. Just use your smartphone to summon a plow to clear out your driveway.