Local businesses welcome the 30-plus cm of snow

The snowstorm hitting Ottawa and eastern Ontario is welcome news for some seasonal businesses. CTV’s Kimberley Fowler reports.

Whether you’re just dealing with it, or dealing in it, the snow can have a big impact on businesses surviving or thriving.

Starbucks franchise owner Herjeet Singh spent part of Thursday afternoon clearing a path around the front door to bring customers from the snowy cold outside and enjoy hot coffee inside.

“Who else is going to do it?” laughs Singh shoveling snow with the help of an employee. “We have staff going to the basement out here, and I just want to be a head of it for tomorrow.”

• Ottawa to see a one-day break from the snow, with 25 cm of snow expected this weekend

The 30-plus centimetres of snow is a welcome sight at Camp Fortune.

“We live for powder, and we finally found some, so it’s awesome. We love it,” says Rob Stanton, who spent the morning enjoying the slopes with and his daughter Emily Stanton-Bursey.

“We made plans a few days ago, we thought that it would be a great way of spending the day, just skiing,” says Stanton-Bursey.

Alex Morin is putting on his snowboarding gear in the Camp Fortune parking lot, about to join friends for their first run down the hill.

“When we knew the snow was coming, I immediately thought the hill. So, me and my buddy, he is just over there, we’re going to hit the hill with these guys. We’re so ready,” says Morin.

Alpine skier and former Olympian Patrick Biggs learned to ski on the Camp Fortune hills.

“I grew up skating here. Luckily, school got cancelled, so I brought my kids up this morning and we got the third chair up and it was pretty cool,” says Briggs. “(Skiing on this hill) kind of like floating through the clouds. You kind of just sit on top of the surface of the snow and glide down the hill. It’s kind of a magical state. It’s really cool.”

• IN PICTURES: Winter storm hits Ottawa

Grooming crews will work overnight to get the conditions perfect, but many took advantage of the fresh runs on Thursday.

“It is lining up to be one heck of a long weekend,” says Camp Fortune General Manager Erin Boucher. “I believe Friday is a PD Day, Monday is Family Day, it’s generally a busy weekend. This is lining up to be an epic weekend with really amazing conditions…and also Valentine’s Day, what’s more romantic than this?”

Staff at Bushtukah are also welcoming the snow. The Ottawa-based outdoor retailer, with three locations across the city, has everything a novice or experienced outdoor adventurer may need.

“When we see all that snow, we’re excited when people come in,” says Sebastien Pilon, store manager at the Orleans location. “We’re also excited to be able to go out there ourselves too, but people will be coming in this weekend because we have a lot of deals.”