BRAZOS COUNTY, TEXAS — Some local businesses are still seeing the damage left behind from our last huge and gruesome cold front.
While some had business roots with well-seeded storefronts to tend to, others were just starting out and opening doors for the very first time.
We may not know the true impact the arctic blast had on local businesses for quite some time. Despite the challenges the cold brought, business owners had a choice to make, and neither one included letting the BCS community down.
For Busha's Custom Cookies Classes and More, their grand opening in downtown Bryan was all set when the arctic blast started to roll in.
"I always knew I wanted to be in downtown Bryan and here we are. We opened the Saturday before snowpocalypse and then had to be shut down for a week...So now we are back in the swing of it," owner Catherine Buckner said.
Catherine Buckner always wanted to be her own boss and the Texas A&M grad wouldn't let the chilly temperatures hold her back from that moment.
"We were trying to figure out should we get heat lamps? Should we get coffee? How are we going to keep people warm? And then the train right next to us stopped on the track for an hour. People couldn't get to us. We had people calling saying 'I'm trying to get to you but I can't get to you' and 'we are just going to have to come back another day,'" Buckner added.
Buckner says she's grateful and thankful her business didn't suffer any physical damage, but for other local businesses like Hullabaloo Diner, impacts from the winter storm were quite different.
"On Sunday night when we were closing up we knew were going to freeze for several days. We were lucky enough to go ahead and turn the water off at the street and we thought we drained the lines enough, but unfortunately it wasn't even close to enough," Richard Risbon, owner of Hullabaloo Diner said.
Risbon says for three days they had plumbers patching pipes until they simply ran out of supplies.
"We are still not finished. They just can't get anymore parts. There are no parts in town," Risbon added.
Risbon says even though they were shut down for a week and he is still down a bathroom, high spirits from his faithful customers have made all the difference.
"When we opened... all our regulars.. which is our greatest asset which are the people that come out and support us. They were all here asking what they could to do help...There were some donations. It was awesome," Risbon said.
And if you ask him if he could have gotten through either the pandemic or arctic blast without them, he'll say "not a chance...no."
"It kind of makes you re-evaluate and adapt and choose how you want to get over these issues that we keep getting thrown at us. You can either give up and say 'ok, I'm done... I'm not doing it' or you can say 'ok so how do we use this to promote our business and make people smile?,'" Buckner added.
Buckner says she's still in the business of baking the world a better place and for Hullaballo Diner, to continue to be one of Bryan College Station's local spots where friends and relationships are cherished.