Businesses reopen after shutting down, closing early Monday

WHITEFISH BAY/MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Some businesses reopened Tuesday, January 7th after the bitter cold closed them altogether on Monday -- or prompted them to shut down early. From small restaurants to large shopping malls -- the economic impact of the bitter cold is being felt.

The Fox Bay Cinema Grill in Whitefish Bay is one of the businesses that shut down on Monday due to the cold.

The owner says Monday is not the biggest day for movie theaters and retailers anyway -- so if the bitter cold created closures, Monday was a good day for it.

Malone's on Brady Street locked its doors on Monday due to the cold. Temperatures around -12 or -13, with wind chills around -35 or -40 meant customers stayed home and vendors did not show up with supplies.

Josh Malone says with workers having a difficult time getting out too, it made no sense to open.

"The decision to close was easy. It was going to be fifty to sixty degrees below. Monday is slow in general in the winter time, so there wasn't going to be a lot of foot traffic and Brady Street was a majority of foot traffic, neighborhood bars," Malone said.

Roundy's closed all of its stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota at 8:00 p.m. Monday -- but Roundy's says the economic impact should be small. Roundy's reports over the past weekend, the company saw an unprecedented amount of sales.

Malls in the Milwaukee area, including Brookfield Square, Regency Mall and Bayshore Town Center closed early Monday as well.

"You never want to close or shorten your hours in a retail business or restaurant. Luckily Monday and Tuesday too tend to be very slow times for businesses. A lot of restaurants close on Mondays just to have a day off during the week,"

While many stayed home Monday, the bitter cold undoubtedly means home heating bills will take a bit of a hit.

We Energies says Monday it cost about $7 to heat an average home. A typical January day would cost around $4.

Many of the businesses that shut down or closed early were back to business on Tuesday -- hoping customers would be willing to venture out.