Despite the Ice, Leesburg is Still in Business

Loudoun County schools were closed on Tuesday, after an overnight mixture of snow and ice covered the area. Even though students were lucky enough to have a snow day, most of Leesburg had to go back to work, albeit a little bit later than usual.

Kimberly Nevin, the owner of King Street Coffee usually does a brisk business on weekday mornings. While she said she still saw most of her regulars, "but we have a group of teachers who got the day off, so they weren't in."

Nevin usually starts seeing customers as soon as she opens at 7 a.m., but said that she didn't see a single person until 8 a.m. "It was just icy enough this morning that everyone was just kind of delayed a little bit and taking their time to get to where they were going," she said.

It was a different story over at Market Station, where Leesburg Nails owner Nancy Nguyen was bemoaning the weather. "It's so slow. So slow!" she laughed. Wherever the high school students were with a day off, they weren't getting their nails done. By about 1p.m., Nguyen had yet to see any students.

Folks were still managing to dig out from the ice and get downtown for lunch. China King Restaurant was doing a steady early lunch business, despite one customer remarking that he had a half an inch of ice on his driveway.

One business was flourishing despite the inclement weather. Rouge, a boutique and Spa a few doors down from China King on King street appeared to be empty, but was actually doing great business. Residents who were taking the day off were flocking to the spa in the back of the store. Owner Anita Henry said "in perfect weather, we'll see cancellations." However, when the weather is bad, "we won't have one cancellation."

This means that today has been a busy day for her and her staff. "We had to be in there warming up the place; making sure everything is ready to roll," she said, Henry also combats the weather by making the spa extra inviting. "All the beds are warmed up, the spa is set at a different temperature to make it cozy, and we serve hot chocolate," she said.

Many of the business owners were trying to be a respite from the cold. While Rouge was serving hot chocolate, Leesburg Nails was serving complimentary coffee, and most of the tables at China King had pots of hot Oolong tea on them. King Street Coffee was serving a hearty broccoli cheddar soup to go along with all of their usual hot beverages to help keep their customers cozy even if they have to brave the elements.