Larry’s Dawg House and The Slice House among other businesses on West Union Street are losing money because the construction on the street is blocking entrances and causing customer confusion.
West Union Street is a one-way road starting at the intersection of state Routes 56 and 682 and ending at the entrance to O’Bleness Hospital, with the flow of traffic going toward Court Street, according to a previous The Post.
Dillan King, general manager of Larry’s, located at 410 W. Union St., said the hotdog restaurant lost about 40% of weekly sales, compared to its typical 10% to 15% of weekly growth since the construction started.
The construction has also led to different lunch rush hours, King said. Now the business sees the lunch rush at a “random time” around noon, instead of the usual 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“It's been really hard for my staff to adjust in those times because sometimes we do get hit really hard, but I can't overstaff constantly because we have parameters,” King said.
The city contracted the project to a company called Shelly & Sands to maintain some of the city’s underground infrastructure and upgrade pedestrian accessibility, Councilmember Alan Swank, D-4th Ward, said.
The inconsistent fluctuation in customers is making it difficult for King to hire new employees or offer his current employees additional hours.
King currently has 40 employees but usually has 60 to 65 employees during the spring. He is nervous about the summer because the restaurant supplies hotdogs for the Southern Ohio Copperheads’ concession stand. During the summer months, Larry’s typically has about 75 to 80 employees between the restaurant and the concession stand.
“(It’s) going to be really hard because we've lost staff because of this, and it's hard for me to hire, or even play with the idea of hiring people because I can't give them hours,” he said.
John Gutekanst, the owner and CEO of Avalanche Pizza and The Slice House, spoke at an Athens City Council meeting to address his business’ situation because of the construction.
“We've lost almost half of our business every single day. I've got employees that I'm going to have to take off the schedule,” Gutekanst said. “I don't know if we can even wait five more months.”
Income tax revenue for the city has decreased since the start of the West Union Street construction because of the loss of employees at the business, Swank said.
“It is also about the city income tax, but it's about the viability of small businesses that employ lots of people, and it's those small businesses that employ lots of people that are the lifeblood of any vibrant community,” he said.
Swank said the construction on West Union Street affects the surrounding businesses and should be the city’s number one priority right now, outside of everyday priorities, including sewer and water systems, fire protection and police protection.
He said he has heard from other business people besides King and Gutekanst, including a representative from Shriver’s Pharmacy & Wellness Center.
The pharmacy has recently had to purchase an additional car and hire another driver to deliver prescriptions to customers who don’t want to pick them up.
“If you're getting another car and you're hiring another driver, that's an additional expense that you had not budgeted for,” Swank said.
The city is currently working on solutions, like speeding up the project or creating a two-way traffic pattern, Swank said.
The current one-way traffic flow is causing safety concerns, Swank said. Some drivers are dodging traffic barriers and driving against the flow of traffic.
The construction project is also affecting businesses beyond West Union Street.
King said his suppliers work on commission and the suppliers are losing money because Larry’s now only orders 50% to 60% of its usual supplies.
“It's affecting a lot more than just Larry's Dawg House itself,” King said. “I wish there would have been some different planning put in place.”
