Local businesses are struggling to cope with this week’s intense heat — particularly those without air conditioning.
River Maiden coffeehouse, 5301 E. Mill Plain Blvd., offers an array of coffee, pastries and food, a majority of which is made in-house. It’s been operating from 6:45 to 11:15 a.m. Monday through Thursday this week in an attempt to keep staff out of the heat, shop assistant Barbara Paulsen said.
The coffeehouse is usually open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Our business is unique in that we have a vibrant drive-thru service, and we often have to send customers to numbered parking spaces while they wait for their food,” Paulsen said. “We want to make sure that employees aren’t out in 100-degree weather.”
The air conditioning hasn’t been working the past few days in the kitchen either, meaning crafting items, such as the house-made ciabatta sandwiches and tater tots, heats up the place exponentially. The business is currently working with a technician to get the unit back up and running.
But for businesses occupying older buildings, such as Loowit Brewing, 507 Columbia St., air conditioning isn’t an option.
“We’re in an older building that wasn’t built with an AC unit,” said Andrea Hoss, a manager at Loowit. “Air conditioning is expensive, and it can be overwhelming for a small business, especially when you don’t own the building.”
The craft brewery has added additional fans around the taproom and dark screens on the windows to help provide shade from the sun. It closed Tuesday because of the heat, reopening Wednesday.
Taco and mezcal eatery Little Conejo, 114 W. Sixth St., also closed Tuesday and reopened Wednesday. Manager Tena Melessa said that because of the restaurant’s older layout, the overhead vent in the kitchen inevitability sucks up a lot of the air conditioning. The restaurant will be closing early Thursday through Sunday, and will be open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Paulsen said River Maiden is waiting until Thursday to decide whether to continue with the shortened hours Friday. Loowit plans on staying open for its regular hours, noon to 10 p.m. daily, unless otherwise posted on its website or Instagram.
“We’re just trying to stay cool,” Hoss said. “We’ll see later on if it gets too hot. As of right now, we’re planning to stay open.”
