There are many things that signal the coming of winter: dead flowers, naked trees, holiday shopping commercials. But my first sign of the approaching cold season came to me after I went into my local ice cream shop, Torico, for a passion fruit slushee.
After speaking with the proprietor, Pura Berrios, about how business was holding up, I learned that she was getting ready for her annual three month hibernation period. Starting November 25th, Torico’s will be closed until the end of October. Berrios, who has been in business for over 40 years, says that “business drops 20 percent for every ten degrees,” and that the reverse was also true during the summer season.
After a brief experimentation period of selling hot dogs, pretzels, pop corn and other hot food items, Berrios realized that “people think of us as ice cream shop,” and that “differentiation doesn’t work.”
I started to wonder about all the other businesses in the area that might be affected by the weather. In my neighborhood there is a bicycle shop, a skateboard store and a very popular Mexican food cart outside of Jersey City. I would like to investigate how the oncoming colder weather affects these businesses, if at all. In addition, I might interview the owners of the local hair salon or the vintage consignment shops to see how the colder weather/holidays influence a customer’s decision in style.