Some Local Businesses Unaffected By Summer Months

The summer season will soon keep vacationers away, many opting for cooler climates. This means smaller crowds and for many stores less business.

This leads many of them to close up for the season and cut costs. However, for a few local business owners, the summer months are nothing to sweat about.

Trio, a women’s and children’s clothing store on El Paseo stays open year-round thanks to a larger full-time resident population.

“We have a real nice population base that’s here during the summer,” said manager Elodie Mullen. “So our business really doesn’t have much seasonality in it anymore.”

One area of the market does not see a large dip in the desert, car sales. Palm Springs Motors agrees with Mullen that a rise in population has kept them plenty busy.

“There’s a lot more families that stay in the desert,” said general manager Scott Simmers. “All year round, there’s a lot more people in the valley, a lot more than even five years ago, so that definitely helps.”

Despite the ability to stay open, Trio and Palm Springs Motors do see small changes in their business. “There’s a drop in July and August, August being the biggest one, but then it’ll start back up in September,” said Mullen.

“The way we go, we do better business at night, than we do during the day, that’s just natural,” agreed Simmers.

One business that is taking advantage of the slow summer months is the Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells. They are closing for business from July 6 to July 27 in an effort to expedite their renovations.

“Rather than irritate anyone, get those guests upset with us, we’re just going to close the hotel, get six weeks worth of work done in three weeks,” said General Manager Allan Farwell. “By the time we open in August, we’ll have a lot of progress on our lobby renovation.”