Posted on 12/20/2002 10:10:51 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
SAVANNAH NY- A ban on smoking has snuffed the life out of their D&S Diner, Susan and Doug Devall say. The owners of the village's only diner, one of the few businesses on Main Street, say they will close for good Dec. 29. They blame Wayne County's no-smoking law, which passed in January.
We'd still be here, Doug Devall said, if the law hadn't passed.
The couple opened the diner in August 2000, after a string of businesses failed at the same location. Although the diner didn't turn a profit in its first year, the two expected to operate in the black the second year. Then the no-smoking law sent that goal go up in smoke. Nearby Cayuga County has no ban on smoking in restaurants, so the Devalls figure much of their business went to light up elsewhere. That took 30 percent of the customers right out of here, Doug Devall said.
Sales were down $3,000 in July 2002 compared to July 2001. Hardest hit were on Friday nights and Sunday mornings.
The couple had the option of converting an extra room into a smoking room, but the cost of installing ventilation, sealing doors and other measures was too much. Meanwhile, the two sympathized with their smoking customers and let them indulge under the counter, so to speak.
If it's not busy in here, I will let people smoke. I'm not going to lose my business, Susan Devall said soon after the law went into effect.
The decision to allow smoking or not should be left up to the individual business owner, Doug Devall said. Restaurant owners should be able to choose whether their establishment will be smoking or non-smoking.
The bottom line
Most of them are crying their eyes out because we're closing, but I can't keep robbing Peter to pay Paul, he said. The bottom line: He needs around $800 a day to survive, said the couple. It's the days when less than $100 comes in and then the propane truck pulls in and there's a $400 bill to pay, those are the days that hurt, he said.
This stuff is going to backfire on politicians, come back and bite them on the ass, Doug said, referring not only to the smoking laws but to the high taxes and other regulations that New York state imposes on small businesses. Workman's compensation, disability, unemployment, liability -- the cost of insurance is extremely high for a small business that employs two full-time and three part-time people.
Absolutely, said Sandy Brownell, when asked whether the new smoking laws have hurt many small restaurants like the D & S Diner.
Brownell is a saleswoman for Palmer Distributing, which is based in Newark. It's hard for them to make it in New York state because of the insurance regulations and the taxes as well, she said. I see it a lot, more than I wish to, she said about the closing.
Brownell is a smoker herself, and said whether she could light up or not weighed into her decision on where to eat.
Not just customers
It's the customers Susan will miss the most, especially the regulars. In a small place like this, though -- one of the few places for people to gather in Savannah -- most of the customers are regulars. In fact, several people sitting at the counter Thursday afternoon, after the lunch rush, had the look of regulars about them.
It's like art work for you, said Jackie Shurtleff, placing Leon Waldron's grilled ham and cheese sandwich in front of him.
Waldron comes to the diner at least once a day, usually to shoot the crap with all the guys in the morning and to pick on everyone.
So where will Waldron go after the new year?
Nowhere it seems.
I'm still coming here, they just don't know that yet, he said.
Tim Carmon, who works in Savannah and drops by at least three times a week for lunch, also hates to see them go.
Shurtleff is Sue's sister, as well as one of the diner's employees. She's worked at the diner since the day it opened.
Both of these facts make the closing an extremely emotional event for her as well as her sister. Upsetting was how she described the upcoming closing -- the simplicity of the words belied the complicated emotions felt.
Before he started working part-time at the diner, Randy Brown would come in with his father for lunch. Off duty Thursday afternoon, he sat at the counter eating what Jackie euphemistically called a concoction -- a Philly sandwich with extra cheese plus pickles, potato chips, and ketchup -- all on the sandwich, not on the side.
Brown has another part-time job at Pearl Technologies, but will miss the good atmosphere at the diner.
It's the environment that will be missed even more than the food. Mrs. Nobel, a Savannah resident whom Shurtleff described fondly as a fixture, has been coming to the diner morning and noon since it opened.
Nobel said the diner has the same friendly, pleasant extended family feeling as when Betty Kelly owned the building and operated a luncheonette there more than 20 years ago.
Nobel doesn't think there will be another business opening in the space anytime soon though -- a great loss for the village.
The diner will be sorely missed on Main Street, which has more empty storefronts than full ones. A couple of bars, a hair salon, a convenience store/gas station, the town hall. Given the limited amount of amenities and services available in this hamlet, most residents head to Seneca Falls or Auburn for basic necessities and entertainment.
This exodus will seemingly continue.
Future plans
There will be an auction in January, and then the Devalls will try to lease the space. Since they own the building, which has apartments upstairs, the couple's connection with the hamlet won't be totally severed.
Drink beer and raise hell, Doug said, when asked about his plans for the future. His contracting business will continue to take up most of his time.
But ultimately it's Sue, at the diner just about every day, who'll miss and be missed the most. Her husband joked his wife would be able to enjoy a stretch of being Suzy Homemaker.
Based on Sue's response to that suggestion, it doesn't seem likely.
Although the couple got smoked out of Savannah, figuratively speaking, Sue hasn't been totally burnt by the restaurant business. But she would consider something closer to home and in a higher traffic area, she said. In fact, with an eye on the future, the couple is tentatively keeping an eye on a place in Weedsport.
But the 29th is going to be pretty hard, Sue said.
Nah, I'm a conservative. Two words.
Cold Turkey.
If you say so. However, that doesn't change the ban in New York, Boston, Florida, California and any number of other places nor will it change the fact that in a few years every restaurant outside Nevada will be smoking free.
That was before the nonsmokers dragged the issue into the political marketplace where they are getting the support of the owners so long as there is a "level playing field".
By your words, you demonstrate the opposite. I can say I'm a millionaire; that doesn't make it so.
The only thing that these two words convey is that politicians are being bought.
"Political marketplace" is a contradiction in terms. Marketplace implies fair play and an outcome based on the best alternative - conservatives (real ones, that is) recognize that the best alternative is seldom the actual outcome in the political realm.
The ones that expressly or implicitly state that government has the right to dictate what people can do with a legal substance on private property. I'm oughtta here for the weekend, and since your argument has already been obliterated feel free to have the last word.
It exists. It takes smokers rights, it takes smokers cash. It is coming to your home town.
You're a proud fascist.
L
Leaving without showing at least one case that proves your point ? Wy am Inot surprised ?
Nonsense. The marketplace in most if not all cities has determined that there is a significant demand for non-smoking restaurants and has provided some. It has likewise decided that there is a significant demand for smoking-allowed restaurants and has provided some of those, too.
I have almost never read anyone here questioning the right of a restaurant owner to ban smoking in his restaurant. The problem here is that non-smokers seem to believe that they have an inherent right to go anywhere they want and demand that the air there be to their liking. The fact is that they have the right to seek out and go to places where the air is to their liking, but they don't have the right to demand that everyplace cater to them.
To put it another way, smokers are offering businesses money in exchange for accommodating them. People who can't stand smoke offer businesses money in exchange for accommodating them. Some businesses feel smokers have more to offer; some feel those who can't stand smoke have more to offer. What's happening here is that non-smokers don't like the fact that they're often outbid by smokers and so have the government stomp out their competition. They really don't have anything to offer many of the businesses on whom they're placing their demands; they want even businesses in which they'd never step foot to forbid smoking. The real problem is that they can't stand freedom.
THat is exactly what is happening.
I suppose if it's "fer the chilrun" it's good by you.
THat is exactly what is happening.
By that do you mean that the anti-smokers are demanding that everyplace cater to them? Do you believe that anti-smokers have the right to make such demands?
Not quite sure I understand that comment.
If you're saying that voters buy the politicians - then we need to kick almost all our current government representatives out NOW.
Government is NOT supposed to be for sale. At least not in the USA.
If you're saying to vote with your pocketbook - That is what was happening before the antis started lying, misrepresenting, and scaring the he!! out of everyone that's too lazy to do a little true research.
minnie, I don't intend to waste much time on you since I'm busy but this is a flat-out crock. Most businesses of ALL kinds don't have a positive cash flow until their third year if then. No wonder you're a fascist; you don't understand the free market.
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