It’s felt like spring has been in the air for a while across western Massachusetts, even though it doesn’t officially start until Sunday. While some have enjoyed the lack of snow and above-normal temperatures, the weather has wreaked havoc on businesses who depend on a cold winter.
Most ski areas in Berkshire County have given up the fight against Mother Nature and closed up shop.
“The season never started. It’s almost that bad.”
That’s how Matt Sawyer of Ski Butternut in Great Barrington summed up ski season. He says the mountain lost about 40 percent of the days it’s usually open. And Sawyer says those lost days came at one of the most profitable times of the season.
“Losing all of December and the first week in January is pretty devastating on any business,” Sawyer says. ” A lot of that is over the holiday period, when the rates are higher because that’s when people have off from school and commitments to their jobs, so it’s been a pretty difficult, very challenging season.”
Ski Butternut wouldn’t release specific numbers related to finances, but it’s clear the mild winter took a bite out of its bottom line.
Another business feeling the pinch: home heating oil companies. Mike Lipton, vice president of Lipton Energy, says he’s been selling less oil because customers just haven’t needed it. Prices were already low. And he says with all that fuel on hand, he had to lower prices a little more, which has hurt both the company and consumers who locked in their rates for the season.
“It’s not what we like to see, people paying the higher price,” Lipton says. “We’ve locked in just like they have, so we’re not making any additional money on it, it’s just sort of bad sentiment from those people.”
One business, of sorts, has actually benefited from the tame winter: municipal government. Last fiscal year, the city of Pittsfield spent nearly $1.3 million on snow and ice removal. So far this year: well under half that.