MERCER COUNTY, W. Va. -With the winter weather making roads slick and causing power outages in some places, many local businesses have had to temporarily close to outlast the storm. However, there are some local restaurants that keeping their lights on.
On Mercer Street in Princeton, Jimmies Restaurant has managed to only close early one day during the storm. Despite the snow, they say customers are still stopping by.
“Our customers are coming out, new ones, regular customers. Not really seeing a decrease in sales,” recalls Jamie Hall, co-owner of Jimmies Restaurant, “Usually in the winter time it is more slow but I think people get stir crazy sitting at home and they just want to get out and do stuff, and my husband, Kevin, the chef, he just serves good food, and they want to taste it.”
On the other hand, Lynn’s Drive In has had to close quite a bit, with cold temperatures making conditions too hazardous for employees to deliver food to the cars. This was made worse with the restaurant having no power for four days during the storm.
However, neither the cold nor their lack of indoor seating has stopped the community from showing support for this 1950s restaurant, with regulars and out of town guests, including power line workers, stopping by. Kara Lucado, manager at Lynn’s Drive-in, says people still stop by for ice cream, even in the cold season.
“We like to keep it going for our community. And, you know, what they feed into us, we feed back into them. It gives us an opportunity to provide things for them, especially when there is people that have power outages and things like that, they can come out here when we are open and get dinner when they don’t have to travel to Princeton or Wytheville or somewhere like that,” says Lucado.
In Bluefield, West Virginia, the Ole No 3 Restaurant and Bar has not had to close, with its location inside the Quality Inn letting them continue to operate and their live entertainment drawing in people bored from staying inside. They also had visits from people working on the power lines who stayed at the hotel.
“People still want to get out and enjoy themselves, and… some of the people been housed up in the cold weather all day, didn’t get to go to work, or, the other part of that is, some of them without power, you know, so they needed a place to come and eat and relax and kind of put all their other issues behind them,” says Tom Wimmer, owner and operator of Ole No 3 Restaurant and Bar.
Wimmer gives credit to the community for their support during this difficult time. All the restaurants we spoke to say supporting local restaurants is invaluable, no matter the weather or time of year.
The restaurants we spoke to say you can see any closures by going to their Facebook pages.
Jimmies Restaurant is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Lynn’s Drive In is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 am to 9:50 pm; Thursday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm; and Sunday 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.
Ole No 3 Restaurant and Bar is open Tuesday through Sunday 3:00 pm through 10:00 pm most days. They are closed on Monday.
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