GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Summer feels like forever ago and far away as businesses up and down the lakeshore navigate through the offseason and the decrease in foot traffic that comes with it
WATCH: How Grand Haven businesses survive during the winter months
I spoke with a couple of businesses here in Grand Haven, including an ice cream shop, to learn how they survive the winter months.
"We embrace it as ugly as January and February are," said Kelly Larson, Sweet Temptations owner.
For 100 days every year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, shops and storefronts along the lakeshore are packed with business. But once the colder months truly set in, the owner of Sweet Temptations says that's when business really starts to slow down.
"In the summer we'll make ice cream once a day. Sometimes we'll have a couple shifts going at a time. This time of year we're pretty lucky to make ice cream once a week," Larson said.
Larson told me that selling ice cream in the winter can be tough, so they use promotions to encourage people to come in.
"We do what we can to get people in the store. Feb-brr-ary if it's 10 degrees out you get your second scoop for 10 cents, so we do what we can," Larson said.
While tourist destinations like ice cream shops feel the effects of winter, on the other side of the highway at the Unicorn Tavern they say winter isn't so much of a challenge.
"In the summer time yeah we blow up everybody in town blows up you can't help it but we're consistent in the winter time," said Garry Boyd, Unicorn Tavern co-owner.
Boyd, along with Larson at Sweet Temptations, says they appreciate all the extra business summer brings but says winter is where they get to show their appreciation to neighbors.
"This just renews our commitment to our local community saying, 'hey, we're here and we're here because we want to be here for you,'" Boyd said.
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