London’s weather seems more like summer than spring. But that’s not good news for all businesses.
David Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada, says the unseasonable warmth can be devastating to some businesses.
“There are always winners and losers in this situation,” he says.
Farmers might be winners, but only if the high temperatures last until the end of summer.
Will Heeman, one of the owners of the Heeman Greenhouses and Strawberry Farm says he is glad that this year he is able to grow strawberries six weeks before their usual time. However, customers normally expect strawberries to be available in June which coincides with the end of the school year. This brings families to the farm for strawberry picking.
“If this sort of weather keeps up, we’ll probably expect the strawberries to be all done by June,” says Heeman.
The other problem that farmers like Heeman face is if the weather turns cold.
“The worst-case scenario is if it goes back to very cold weather then we would have a major freeze of all the growth that we have,” says Heeman.
While farmers hope that the weather will stay stable until the end of summer, retail stores that sell winter equipment and clothing are losing business due to a not-so-cold winter and a hot spring.
Phillips, who has been studying Canadian climate for decades, says that the warm weather has had the worst impact on the retail industry.
“We had a warm winter so people were not thinking of buying winter gear,” says Phillips. “Certainly a lot of that stuff is still on the shelves.”
Store owners were caught off guard. Their shelves are filled with winter gear but people are looking for summer clothes, added Phillips.
Scott Kernaghan, a manager at Boler Mountain, says the store had to be closed a few weeks before its usual time due to low sales. The store lost business this year because people did not buy winter sports equipment.
Due to low sales in the winter equipment and winter clothing, the store also lost 25 per cent in what is known as “walk-through traffic,” says Kernaghan. Walk-through traffic refers to customers who come to the store to buy one thing, winter equipment for instance, and end up buying other unrelated items.
“Twenty-five per cent is a lot in the ski business. I mean, we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
One area that is not suffering from the warm weather is restaurants with open patios. According to Google Canada, the word “patio” has spiked as a search term in Ontario in March as people look for restaurants with open patios.
Milos Karl, owner of Gambrinus Bistro and Cafe, says he doesn’t need the boost he got from the Brier curling tournament last year.
“Last year this time was pretty cold, but because London hosted the curling tournament we were busy,” says Karl. “This year, we are doing just as well without the tournament thanks to the warm weather.”
Photo by Ariana Wardak
Gambrinus Bistro and Cafe on King Street opened its patio early this year.