Business in winter slows, with some exceptions

Published 12:11 pm Tuesday, January 6, 2015

It’s an indisputable fact that business lags in Wallowa County during the winter months, yet that seasonal slowdown is not all-inclusive.

At Enterprise Flower Shop, the only local exclusively floral outlet, the winter months bring higher-than-average sales, and a Mexican restaurant in Enterprise reports no fluctuations in business, January through December.

Darlene Johnson, owner of the floral business, points out that both Valentine’s Day and Christmas, her biggest and third-biggest sales times of the year (Mother’s Day in the spring being No. 2), arrive in the winter months and her highest annual sales come during that cold season. Being a teleflorist coupled with having an e-commerce website where customers can view floral arrangements online and either order there or place phone calls to Enterprise greatly reduces problems associated with wintry driving conditions. The staff of Enterprise Flower Shop delivers 85 percent of all orders destined to in-county recipients.

Another business in Enterprise, a Mexican restaurant named El Bajio at the corner of Highway 82 and River Street, is open nearly 12 hours seven days per week throughout the year and experiences no seasonal ups or downs in customer traffic, says owner Leo Arenas. With a seating capacity of 44 diners, El Bajio has been serving the public for 11 years and employs three people in addition to Arenas and wife Audra.

Still, the majority of businesses in Wallowa County either slow down operations or close altogether for the winter months.

The harshness of the county’s winter business climate became apparent to new business owners Kathy and David Nelson, who opened Pit Stop BBQ in Wallowa Memorial Day weekend of 2014 and had planned to stay open year-around. Admittedly stubborn and reluctant to renege on statements she’d made to loyal customers about that plan to keep operating through winter, Kathy Nelson finally closed the drive-thru eatery Dec. 8.

“It got slower and slower,” she said. “I’d stand there nine hours and get four to six customers.”

The peak of Pit Stop BBQ’s business came during the business’s opening Memorial Day weekend, was strong during Wallowa’s 4th of July celebration, but was slower than anticipated during Tamkaliks when there were competing food sales at that Native American ceremonial site.

Vicki Searles, director of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, names numerous businesses that close annually during the winter months. Among them are Rimrock Inn and a variety of businesses at Wallowa Lake including Wallowa Lake Marina, Wallowa Lake Tramway, and the Eagle Cap Wilderness Pack Station.

She estimates that maybe 20 percent of available lodging accommodations within the county are filled in the months of January, February and March, compared to possibly 80 percent during the months of July, August and September.

Statements made by both Ron Woodin, owner of Flying Arrow Resort, at Wallowa Lake, and David Hurley, co-owner along with wife Susanna of both Eagle Cap Chalet, also at the lake, and Eagle’s View Inn & Suites, west of Enterprise, substantiate Searles’ observations.

Of the total 37 cabins Flying Arrow Resort either owns or manages, only nine are open year-around and winter occupancy in those units, according to owner Ron Woodin, primarily is limited to weekends and holidays. Up to 90 percent of that business operation’s revenue is generated between Memorial Day and October, says Woodin, and in the winter months a summer work crew of eight to 10 persons is whittled down to two.

Hurley, who rents a total of 87 rooms at his two businesses, reduces his rates 25 percent in the winter, yet says, “There’s not enough activity to tempt people from outside the area to come in during the winter.”

Garrett Mahon, owner of Goebel’s LLC, in Wallowa, says gasoline sales at his station are cut in half during the slow winter months. Acknowledging that he does’t even try to break down how many gasoline sales are made to local customers as differentiated from non-local customers, Mahon suggests that gasoline prices do not impact gasoline sales. “I’m not selling any more gasoline now (at under $3 per gallon) than I was when the price was four dollars. Gasoline is a necessity.”

At Goebel’s, says Mahon, top business days of the year come at the opening of deer hunting season.