PROVIDENCE – Short-staffing, work backlogs, power outages and, of course, mountains of snow greeted workers and employers as business began reopening across the state after the historic Blizzard of '26.
Becky De Mello, manager of Clements Marketplace in Portsmouth, said that when they reopened on Tuesday after a one-day hiatus, the store operated most of its first shift with just three staff members before another 12 employees dug out and gradually made their way to work.
Losing an entire day of revenue can be troublesome for any independent business, much less two. However, Clements Marketplace's customers began arriving in force, happy to get back to normal.
“I was a bit mortified at first, but we managed,” said De Mello.
While many local Clements’ employees successfully navigated through the snow to reach the store, others from nearby cities like Fall River are still unable to commute.
Indeed, the company’s Plymouth location is now facing significant challenges as it lost power on Monday, with restoration not expected until at least Feb. 27.
De Mello said that they sent a staff member immediately to the Plymouth, Mass. site to gather as many groceries as possible and transport them back to Portsmouth for sale.
Navy officer Dalton Turner, stationed at Homewood Suites in Middletown, faced disruptions of his own.
After flying in to begin a course at the War College, he found the hotel had lost power on the morning of Feb. 23, which wasn’t restored until early Tuesday.
Many local restaurants remained closed, and Turner’s classes were postponed.
“We still haven’t had Wi-Fi back yet,” he said.
Despite the setbacks, Turner found a silver lining: “Missing three days of class has been rough, but it’s given me plenty of time to catch up on mandatory readings,” he said.
Like many others, Ali Shaik, employee at the Daily Stop Mart on Broadway, had to walk to work Wednesday. What is normally a 25-minute walk became a great deal more complicated the day after a blizzard. Snow and travel delays mean that Shaik had to open the store an hour late.
"The sidewalks hadn't been cleared so I had to walk on the road," he said. "I had to keep turning to look out for cars."
Maggie Duggan, a resident of Federal Hill and employee at Nitro coffee shop, also on Broadway, confirmed that walking is even more difficult than the previous snowstorm last month, with most side streets remaining unplowed. Like Shaik, she also found herself having to use the main road.
"Drivers really don't cut pedestrians any slack," she said. "They fight you for the road."
[caption id="attachment_517113" align="alignleft" width="225"]
THE SIGN OUTSIDE Broadway's The Nitro Bar "hangs by a thread," said employee Maggie Duggan after the high winds during Monday's blizzard. On Wednesday morning, the cafe was deserted during what should been it's busiest time. /PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS PHOTO VEER MUDAMBI[/caption]
While the fact that many are staying off the roads made the morning commute slightly easier, it also cuts into a core part of Nitro's customer base, Duggan said, standing in an empty cafe at 9:45 a.m., during what should be their busiest time of day. Normally, the shop is busy from 7 a.m to about 1 p.m.
"Most of our business is people who drive and Uber here," she said. "It's kind of a ghost town right now."
Melissa Travis, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association,
said of 1,600 manufacturers, almost 100% had shut down Tuesday. Even now only about 70% have started again as of Wednesday afternoon. A couple of them have rented excavators to do the snow clearing themselves.
“A lot of commercial buildings have sustained damage but don't know the full extent yet,” she said. “Worst are in solar panels - those roofs do not handle snow well.”
Karen Deutsch, co-owner of Stewart House home decor boutique on the East Side of Providence, says the storm forced the business to close down for two of its regular operating days.
Deutsch plans to re-open on Thursday but expects slow business all week. The 97 Hope St. storefront is situated in an area that relies more on car traffic than foot traffic, and many customers can't access the store while numerous side streets in the neighborhood remain unplowed and massive snow drifts leave little room to park.
Duetsch said she doesn't blame city personnel for struggling to deal with the historic blizzard. But the near-shutdown in day-to-day life comes during a particularly difficult stretch of months for Providence businesses and residents, she said.
"It's not one thing," Duetsch said, "It's everything. Winter is slow anyway post-holiday season, then add two monumental storms, a tragic shooting (at Brown University) and monumental tariffs on top of everything ... If this kind of mood lasts a lot longer, I think you'll see a lot of small businesses say it's not worth the effort to put in just to survive."
The Newport City Council canceled its Wednesday meeting and City Hall is closed, along with the Newport Public Schools and Public Library. Staff at the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce are still remote because their offices are in city-owned Innovate Newport.
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THE WAVE SCULPTURE at the junction of America Cup Avenue, Thames Street, and Memorial Boulevard in downtown Newport. City officials were still working around the clock Wednesday to remove snow from the streets in several neighborhoods. /COURTESY CITY OF NEWPORT[/caption]
City officials are still gently advising residents to stay home until the roads are clear.
However, in downtown Newport, Giusto Newport Italian Restaurant inside Hammetts Hotel reopened on Tuesday in time for dinner, enticing customers with free kids' pasta and an invitation to recharge their devices while dining, according to a social media post.
Businesses in other parts of the state are adjusting their plans in the wake of the storm as well. Boston-based Anna’s Taqueria had to postpone its Rhode Island debut at Garden City Center in Cranston to Wednesday, citing the storm's severity.
Richmond-based manufacturer VIBCO Inc. reopened on Wednesday, though about 30% of its approximately 110 employees could not get to work due to unplowed roads, said CEO and President Karl Wadensten.
“It will take us a whole week” to make up for the lost time during the two-day shutdown, he told Providence Business News. “We’re still shoveling out here.”
But even during the shutdown, many office employees kept working from home, he said proudly, taking turns shoveling while others answered calls and emails.
De Mello said the rush on Tuesday was due to the eagerness of residents to escape home confinement.
Her first customer purchased a single carrot cake, joking about eating it all in one sitting.
“Once the roads were plowed, people just wanted to get out of the house,” she said.
(RECASTS lede, minor edits.)
Christopher Allen is a staff writer for PBN. You can reach him at Allen@PBN.com. PBN staff writers Veer Mudambi and Jacquelyn Vogel contributed to this report.
