By Zoe Brown
Despite sunshine the past couple of days, Westport’s summer weather, ranging from rain to pop-up storms to searing temperatures throughout June, has hurt the bottom line for local businesses dependent on sunny summers.
It was a busy day today for Longshore Sailing School, but recent bad weather heavily impacted its business and others in Westport. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com
“This year’s weather has been the worst we’ve seen in 26 years,” said Joey Romeo, owner of Joey’s by the Shore, the food concession at Compo Beach. “June, for example, has been the wettest in history.
“As a business that is almost entirely dependent on the weather, we’ve been significantly impacted,” added Romeo.
John Kantor, owner of Longshore Sailing School, agreed that the weather has put a damper on things.
“I’m not worried yet, but we’re behind for sure,” said Kantor. “I think our boat rental revenue year to date is down by about one-third from last year because last year we had very good weather.”
Kantor explained that although there have been many random, pop-up thunderstorms so far, the crew at Longshore Sailing School is equipped to deal with them.
“We will restrict the boundaries, so we can retrieve the boats faster if we need to,” he said. “We also have four safety boats. We’re pretty used to it; we’ve done this drill many times.”
Last month’s unexpected storms even delayed the opening of an outdoor seating area at Dunkin’ Donuts in Bridge Square. The store was planning to open the outdoor patio with chairs, tables, and umbrellas on June 22, but the weather would not allow it.
“The day we were going to launch it up, it was raining , so we couldn’t open up the umbrellas or anything outside,” said Jonathan Solis, manager.
Joey’s by the Shore at Compo Beach was among Westport businesses hurt by the run of bad weather in recent weeks. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
An employee tonight said it would open in a week.
Even though the summer slogged on in the days leading up to the highly anticipated July 4 holiday, including intermittent rain during the July 3 Compo Beach fireworks, the sun held its own on Independence Day.
“We were thrilled with the weather on July 4th,” said Romeo. “We’re all thankful that the showers were minimal on fireworks night and are hoping for more weather days like the Fourth.
“Although it’s been a great few days, we can never make up for the business that was lost at the beginning of the season,” he said.
