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Businesses hot, hot, hot

Katie Schwarztarauber sits in the box office at Kenwick theater, a Wehrenberg Theater, in front of a sign indicating a special price offer for moviegoers during the St. Louis heat crisis Tuesday. Wehrenberg, based in St. Louis, has seen attendance rise 11 percent during the heat. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Jim Salter Associated Press
Katie Schwarztarauber sits in the box office at Kenwick theater, a Wehrenberg Theater, in front of a sign indicating a special price offer for moviegoers during the St. Louis heat crisis Tuesday. Wehrenberg, based in St. Louis, has seen attendance rise 11 percent during the heat. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

ST. LOUIS – A long spell of hot, dry weather and some crunchy brown grass do wonders for Mike Salesman’s business.

Salesman is general manager of Allen Irrigation, a St. Louis company that so far this summer has installed an average of 15 residential in-ground watering systems per week. That’s about double the number from last summer.

“When a guy walks out in his yard like last year and it’s green and his neighbor’s yard is green, the last thing he thinks about is irrigation,” Salesman said. “When he walks out today and everything is brown and his wife is complaining about dragging the hose around, he’s motivated to get a system.”

The central United States is known for its hot, steamy summers, but this year’s weather has been brutal even by Midwestern standards. The high reached 102 degrees on Monday in St. Louis, and 100 miles to the west, Columbia, Mo., topped the century mark for the sixth straight day. To make matters worse, it’s been one of the driest summers on record.

Yet among those left crabby by the heat, some business owners are quite content.

The St. Louis-based Wehrenberg Theater chain has seen attendance rise 11 percent this summer, even as business slumps for the movie industry in general. Part of the credit goes to Wehrenberg’s “Heat Advisory Matinee” – when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory, the chain offers discount-priced tickets for adults through 6 p.m.

“It’s just like the old days – get out of the heat, go to a movie theater where it’s cool and comfy,” Wehrenberg spokeswoman Kelly Hoskins said. “People are stuck indoors and they get tired of staying home. You’re seeing them go to movie theaters because they want to be entertained.”

Big business is benefiting, too. Arch Coal Inc., the St. Louis-based company that provides fuel for about 7 percent of the nation’s electricity, is projecting “unprecedented demand for coal” thanks in part to hotter-than-normal summer temperatures.

Several utility companies – FirstEnergy Corp. in Ohio, the Tennessee Valley Authority, AmerenUE in eastern Missouri and central Illinois – on Monday saw all-time peak electricity usage due to constantly running air conditioners.

A spokesman for the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, which provides the grid through which electricity passes, said the extra usage is showing no signs of overwhelming the system. Such an overload led to the August 2003 blackout that left 50 million people without power in the Northeast.

But the heat was taking a toll on businesses whose patrons must be outdoors.

At Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis’ Forest Park, it’s not uncommon for most of the 19 courts to be filled on a nice day. This week, desk manager Tom Verhoff has actually been pulling people off the courts.

“I canceled our kids’ clinics yesterday,” Verhoff said. “It was 115 degrees on the courts. I didn’t want the kids out there passing out.”

Verhoff estimated that attendance during the heat wave has been down 75 percent to 80 percent. A few die-hards show up, but Verhoff has seen more than a few players get out of their air-conditioned cars, glance at the heat rising from the concrete courts, and turn away.