Blizzard Means Business

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Blizzard means business: It has closed businesses, stranded commuters and shut or significantly slowed down transportation networks for commerce. But a few businesses are seeing a silver lining to the snow clouds. “From a business point of view, it’s a good thing,” said Michael Barbuzzi, of Barbuzzi Landscaping in Swampscott and Snow Removal Unlimited in Lynn. “It’s just that I would have rather had that 25-inch storm spread out over three storms, not all at once.” Two snowstorms in a week have dumped a record breaking 40.2-inches of snow on Boston between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the most snowfall to fall in a similar time period in the 100 years of records kept by the National Weather Service. The storms have also delivered more snow within a week than falls in Boston in a typical winter.

A 2014 study by research firm IHS Global Insight put a $265-million price tag on a one-day snowstorm in Massachusetts, calculating factors such as lost wages for workers, lost retail sales and lost taxes. Then there are snow-removal costs borne by local governments, residents and businesses.

These costs are highly variable. But Barbuzzi said they have provided another source of income for local landscapers. “When I was a young guy, most of us just enjoyed the winters off,” Barbuzzi said. “But most people make money on a weekly basis and to hire good people, you need to keep them employed. For landscapers, snow plowing and snow removal is how you do it in the winter.”

He said his company has about 30 4-wheel drive plow trucks, six shoveling crews of 2-3 people, and big equipment such as front-end loaders and hauling trucks to remove snow from primarily commercial businesses in Lynn and Swampscott. For the recent storm, the crews worked in three 8-10-hour shifts, Barbuzzi said. “It makes for a lot of long hours,” Barbuzzi said. And lots of expense.

Barbuzzi said his employees earn between $20 to $30 per hour for shoveling. Snow plow and equipment drivers earn between $20 and $35 an hour. “It’s expensive to get guys to come in these crazy hours,” Barbuzzi said. “In the snow business you usually have a 6- to 8-hour window to get things done; with these monster storms maybe 24 hours.” He said the snow currently on the ground, plus snow forecast for Thursday, will require the company work “round-the-clock” this week with 8-10 hour shifts.

Snow helps some businesses - Tim Tenney and his snow shovel display at True Value Hardware in Wyoma Square in Lynn.

But there are many residents who want to — or must — remove the snow themselves. “It’s a great January, last January was terrible,” said Wyoma Square True Value owner Tim Tenney. “Last January was so cold, so freezing and no snow. This one is warmer and there’s a lot of snow.”

Tenney said snow shovels, ice melters, roof rakes and parts for snow blowers (he sold out of snow blowers weeks ago as many callers to the store have been disappointed to learn) have been in high demand at his store. “I’ve been selling a lot of sleds, too,” Tenney said. “They’re all sledding up at Gannon. So I guess the kids are enjoying their time off.”

John Ciccone, owner of Beden Hardware on Munroe Street, said snow shovels, ice choppers and ice melt were recent top-sellers. But unlike in Wyoma Square, sales of these items did not make up for business lost for other projects, many of which required travel to-and-from the downtown location. “It kind of just turns business over to something else,” Ciccone said of the snowstorm. “It takes everybody’s eyes off of other things — other business you would be doing besides winter products.”

Leslie Gould, president and chief executive officer of the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce, said that snow storms can be difficult for businesses that depend on foot traffic from other local businesses, such as retailers in a downtown or shopping plaza, restaurants and coffee shops and businesses dependent on weather-related tasks, such as construction. As for employees, part-time, hourly and those workers who cannot work remotely are also negatively impacted by snowstorms, Gould said.

But Gould said other businesses adjust to the winter — a cleaning company offers a special for carpet cleaning due to all the sand and salt tracked into a home, for instance; or a towing company is suddenly in high demand to remove cars from snowbanks. But whether busy because of 90-hour weeks or hoping for roads to be cleared to resume commerce, several business people echoed Ciccone as he recalled the storms. “We were closed with the first storm — that was last week, right?” Ciccone said. “It just seems like it hasn’t ended.”