Entire plaza on Westheimer has gone weeks without power, business owners tell KPRC 2

HOUSTON – Though CenterPoint Energy has been working to restore Houstonians’ faith after Hurricane Beryl, some local business owners on Westheimer may have a hard time coming around.

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KPRC 2 reporter Rilwan Balogun was set to meet with Jimmy Nguyen Monday morning, owner of JAM Viet Kitchen, located in the 11700 block of Westheimer near S. Kirkwood. CenterPoint is expected to arrive and restore power to the area around noon. However, this comes after four weeks, Nguyen says, since his restaurant had electricity.

“This morning I did receive an email that we’ll get power by noon, so I’m hoping by noon,” he explained. “If not, then we’ll have to look into all the top options of what we can do.”

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When asked, what those options were, Nguyen replied, “Honestly, nothing.” Still, after about a month of his business being inoperable due to the lack of power, he remains optimistic.

“We have to let our employees know that they have to start looking for their next jobs, but I don’t think that would be the option because I believe that we will get all power back very soon, and I’m not giving up hope yet,” he said. “This is something I always love to do; love to be in the kitchen, love to cook. And then I’ve been doing this for so long, I don’t know what else I can do besides.”

After wrapping up his interview for this report, however, Rilwan learned that Nguyen’s restaurant was not the only business impacted by the power outages.

Several other businesses and restaurants in the plaza have been without electricity and forced to close due to the inclement weather.

Among them include: Memorial Hermann Urgent Care, Five Guys, Starbucks, and Halal Guys. Those who have remained open like Verizon or The Good Life CBD have been able to do so through generators.

Nguyen was also able to rent a generator temporarily and saw CenterPoint crews out working, but things kept getting delayed and it became harder to hold onto hope.

“It’s like a rollercoaster,” Nguyen said. “You’re so happy that ‘hey look, there’s a power generator we can operate for the next few days, and then the next day you want to put hope on the people above us, who know more than what we all actually know, but then it’s just like you want to give up, but then you can’t because I have so many employees that depend on us.”

KPRC 2 will continue to track this story and provide more updates here and on the air in a live report.