Richmond water crisis makes businesses lose money: ‘Sorry, we’re closed; no water’

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Several businesses in Richmond are feeling the impact of the loss of water, which means losing money.

Several of them have signs on their doors saying, “Sorry, we’re closed; no water.”

The few that are open say they may not be able to do it much longer.

Ariana Kabob is one of the many restaurants trying to navigate managing business without water.

“It’s very hard, especially for small businesses,” Ariana Kabob’s Abdul Faizi said.

Faizi says around 3 p.m. on Jan. 6, the water stopped working at Ariana Kabob, and they closed for the day around 4 p.m.

“It’s very hard. There’s no way you can work on the kitchen, especially in the restaurant; you have to serve the customers and kitchen to cook and everything. The dishes especially, it’s really hard to operate without water,” Faizi said.

Convenience stores are also struggling to navigate through this.

“We don’t ain’t got no coffee. We trying to boil some eggs or make food for the customers, and there is no water. I can’t even go to the bathroom,” Yellow Store owner Shaman Musaid said.

The water is out.

“A lot of customer ask for food, and we can’t even make it like, we losing a lot of money right now. You could see if you put the camera in the store; no customers in the store. I don’t know nothing we could do, but we losing money like that,” Musaid said.

However, the bills are still due.

“You got to pay the rent, you got to pay the electricity bill, like the internet and everything. It is very hard to keep up with all those bills if you have no water and you have to close down,” Faizi said.

Both business owners say a few hours without water is bad enough, but days without water make them suffer.

“I’m losing money right now. I don’t even make no money. I’m losing money. I take all the water I’m supposed to be selling it, and I have to use it for the back sink,” Musaid said.

“It’s going to be very hard, and it is a big loss,” Faizi said.

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