Two pillars of Atlanta’s economy – hospitality and logistics – were hit hard by this week’s snow-ice haymaker, and, while both will recover, the icy blast will likely cost the region millions of dollars.
Small businesses too, which comprise the bulk of the region’s revenue and jobs, also suffered gravely. Restaurateurs and shop owners from Decatur to Dahlonega shuttered doors, shoveled ice and tallied lost receipts.
Atlanta’s post-recession economy, with its stubborn 10.3 percent unemployment rate, can ill afford any setback. It can also do without yet another blemish on its national reputation. The snowstorm adds to the bad national press Atlanta has already received for traffic, water and educational woes.
“In 11 years it’s the first time we’ve had to close,” said Kelly Seo, who owns a food mart on the square in Decatur. “For me, it’s a disaster. We’ll lose a whole week’s worth of business. If it’s Boston, it’s taken care of. But here? What’s wrong?”
Stores will re-open as the week rolls on. Convention-goers will arrive. And trucks will re-take to the highways.
“The storm is a freakish kind of thing that nobody can anticipate and we’ll live through,” said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “The resilience of this economy will get us through without any real problems.”
Trouble, though, arose Tuesday on the eve of the city’s biggest annual convention. The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, held downtown at the Americas Mart, starts a weeklong run Wednesday. The city’s visitors’ bureau expects 92,000 attendees and a $128 million economic impact.
Hotels on Tuesday reported cancellations from Gift Show visitors who couldn’t reach Atlanta due to flight cancellations. The weather, and the disappearing hotel reservations, prompted Americas Mart to post this unusual message on its website:
“As you may have heard, Atlanta just experienced 2-4 inches of snow on Sunday night. Conditions will improve considerably as we near opening day.”
The Gift Show is but one event, albeit a financially critical one, in the city’s $11 billion hospitality industry. Convention planners and city officials also fretted about the storm’s lingering impact on this weekend’s Atlanta Boat Show at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Georgia’s $16 billion logistics industry – trucks, trains, planes, warehouses and more – was also bruised. One only had to turn on the TV to see dozens of 18-wheelers pulled to the side of Interstates 75, 85, 20 and 285 to understand how store shelves would remain empty and factories idled without key parts.
Roughly $1.86 trillion worth of truck freight flowed through Georgia in 2009, according to the state’s Center of Innovation for Logistics. Fulton County alone accounts for one-fourth that amount.
“A snowstorm like this has an impact not only on Atlanta but to the nation as a whole because of Atlanta’s position as a global leader in logistics,” said Page Siplon, the Center’s executive director. “It’s bad when people see trucks by the side of the road because cargo is not getting to where it’s supposed to go.”
Train traffic, too, suffered. Norfolk Southern, which runs about 100 trains a day through Atlanta, has pushed only 25 trains through the city since the storm hit Sunday. Icy roadways kept several hundred employees across the Southeast from getting to work. Customers across the region were told Monday to expect delays up to 48 hours, Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said.
No mode of conveyance survived the storm unscathed.
“We’ve been closed, basically, since Sunday night,” said Bradley Stone, who owns Buckhead Safety Cab Co. “We don’t have cabs on the streets. It’s too dangerous.”
And it’s the cabbies – independent contractors – who suffer.
“They have to be out there working to feed their families,” Stone said. “If they have no work, there’s no income coming in. It’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s out of everyone’s control.”
The storm smacked the already battered construction industry, too. T.R. “Ted” Benning III, owner of Smyrna-based Benning Construction Co., stands to lose $1 million in sales, which translates into $30,000 in unrealized state sales taxes.
“Construction is at a standstill because we cannot get manpower and material to the job sites,” Benning said. “Even on our indoor jobs we have run out of materials due to the roads being closed.”
In downtown Decatur, its square typically bustling at lunchtime, only a few faceless pedestrians shuffled along icy sidewalks Tuesday.
Most shops stayed closed. A few restaurants remained open. Casey Teague spent the night curled up on a bench inside Mac McGee’s, and he put the best face on the situation.
“For retail, this is a slow time of the year anyway,” Teague said while pouring kosher salt on the pub’s sidewalk. “Tomorrow, everything will get back to normal. Long term, it’ll not be that big of a deal.”
January, Teague and others noted, is typically a slack eating and shopping month. Post-holiday budgets are tight. But customers will, eventually, return.
"People, especially when they get out, there's sort of this cabin fever mentality,” said Dennis Kemp, general manager of Perimeter Mall which closed Monday and Tuesday. “They're just deferring (spending) to later in the week, when the mall is open."
In all, Atlanta’s reputation as a manageable, affordable city should survive the Storm of 2011, just as New York, London and other cities weathered wintry bouts this year.
“We’ve seen this year that really big cities in general are having a hard time handling big storms,” said Tim Calkins, a branding expert at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
-- Arielle Kass and Rachel Tobin contributed to this report
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