BELLAIRE, Texas – Bellaire business owners say they’re losing customers because of ongoing construction.
There isn’t much an Italian restaurant, yoga studio or a nail salon would have in common, but at the corner of Bellaire Boulevard and Chimney Rock, fencing and construction is impacting their bottom line.
The Friday rush at Auntie Pasto’s has slowed down in the last few months.
The owner, Joel Dickinson, said it’s down 20 to 30 percent in a given month.
“Unfortunately, in this business that’s a matter of life or death,” he said.
The issue has nothing to do with what they’re doing inside, but the construction outside.
The entire shopping complex is getting remodeled.
Its a project Dickinson and other owners thought would take a few months, but by the look of things, its not clear when it will wrap up.
On the other end of the complex, at Yoga Tres, the owners say they’re increasing their social media presence to limit the “are you still open” calls.
“Quite honestly, it hurts my heart. I mean all business owners we have so much sweat equity in addition to the regular equity that all businesses put into their business and I think that it’s hard because we have been up here and now we’re slowly declining,” said Stacie Zollars.
All of the owners say their landlord is super responsive and does what he can. But, as of now, they don’t know how much longer they can go.
“While this is going on its just cost us a lot of customers. Folks think we’re closed or don’t want to mess with the difficulty of getting in here,” Dickinson said.
Dickinson said his loyal customers are spreading the word and making an effort to grab dinner.
“Our mutual friend Jenny told us that they were hurting for business and that we needed to come,” said patron Mary Kaspar.
The nail salon owner said she is losing at least $10,000 a month since the start of construction.