Mixed reactions and protocols, Duluth Businesses speak on the city’s first snow emergency

As the snow came down Tuesday and the city of Duluth declared their first snow emergency, a majority of businesses in Duluth didn’t see a whole lot of negative effects.

Ursa Minor Owner Ben Hugus says, "We are happy that the city is making us a priority to keep us open at those times."

Business continued as usual for places like Ursa Minor. The restaurant based whether it stayed open on a staff consensus. Hugus says, "We’ve always aired on the side of making sure that [the staff] can get home. And if they feel safe and are able to get home then we feel that we can stay open for customers."

But while many places were open for business, Places like New London Cafe were closed as most of their customers have to park on a snow emergency route to get into the front doors.

Owner John Jenkins says, "We decided to shut down because our customers would probably park on the road and we didn’t want to encourage that."

He also kept the customers in mind as the available parking would’ve been uphill. He says, "Also I think another thing was we could have them park up the hill a little bit, but with the iciness and the sidewalks and all that I didn’t want to put our customers at risk."

But after one day and a half costumers were allowed back to park on the route and enjoy the cafe. Jenkins said Thursday, "Today’s great we have clear roads and now we have customers parking on the road now and it’s safe and clear."

The New London Cafe Owner added the next thing the city can work on for next time would be communication. He says, "It was a little bit of a shock that [the routes] would be closed until 6:00pm but I understand that they have a lot of things that are running through their heads trying to figure out the best solution for our community."

But now with clear roads and close parking the cafe can’t complain after all their customers were back at the restaurant. Jenkins said, “Our customers are happy they are here and we are having a nice day so I think it’s all working out."