• FLOODS of '08 VIDEO
Pub Mitchell is back open. But the owner says business is not what it used to be, because while she is clearly back in business, her neighbors still are not home. Martie Mitchell, the owner of Pub Mitchell, dries her tears. Her tap not dry, but her tables empty and there’s only a few people at her neighborhood bar. She says her regulars are displaced.
“Most of them are in FEMA trailers or they found an apartment or another house. And they're just all over."
Mitchell has worked here at this bar for almost 25 years. She’s owned the bar since 1990. So she says she’s not only lost customers but also friends. Mitchell says before the flood of 2008 she was considering retirement but says the flood ended up making the decision for her. She says she knew after seeing all the devastation that surrounded her business there was no going back, not ever, she says. So she gave the bar a face lift, changed the name of the bar from Blue Collar to Pub Mitchell and started over. Because she says, after the flood, she knew her community would need a home.
“It gives them a sense of okay there are some things that are still the same and we do have a place to go."
Now she says she just has to wait for her family to come back.
“You can't just fold you've got to keep going."
Mitchell says a big help to her business right now is being across the street from Penford. She says employees do come over to her bar after they get off work. But she says because of the flood, Penford isn’t running at full capacity. So she says she’s still losing customers there as well. Another problem Michell says she’s losing customers because of is the smoking ban. Making for what she calls a double whammy against her clientele.
Back to Business?
