Business owners prepare to cope with 3rd-shift loss

Some will adjust their hours to accommodate their customers.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- Jesse Cottrill and his partner, Ashley Golden, opened AJ's Country Cafe just a week ago to cater specifically to the General Motors Corp.'s midnight shift.
Business has been terrific for the young couple -- the breakfast crowd from GM's assembly and fabricating plants is attracted to the eatery when workers clock out at 7 a.m.
The doors to AJ's open at 5:30 a.m., and they already have put out the "help wanted" sign.
On Wednesday, the automaker announced it was shutting down the overnight shift, which employs 1,500 workers.
Thursday, the couple heard for the first time the heartbeat of their baby. Golden, 20, is three months pregnant.
They're not the only merchants doing gut checks; many businesses here are dependent on GM workers.
"It's my worst nightmare," Cottrill said Thursday morning. "I sat up all last night."
Cottrill, 24, said he expected cutbacks at the Lordstown complex, but not this drastic.
"We've got to know these people [already], and we may not see them again," he said. "It's definitely nerve-wracking."
"I'm on the same brain wave as him," Golden said, pointing to her partner.
"It's not going to shut us down," explained Cottrill. He added that they may have to change their hours when the layoffs take effect in June.
Between 60 percent and 70 percent of their customers are GM workers who stop in between 5:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. By 7:15 a.m., the state Route 45 restaurant is filled. Some wait at the door before opening.
Another business
Down the road, Jeff and Donna Corll own the Subway shop in the Lordstown Plaza. They're open from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., so they don't cater to the early-morning crowd.
"It could help us," in the short-term, Jeff Corll said, because Subway gets a lot of business from workers laboring the morning and afternoon shifts. Some of the laid-off workers will be transferred to the other shifts.
"We still get a crowd, though," Donna Corll commented.
Jeff Corll said, however, that he and his wife believe the layoff, buyouts and retirements will affect their business "sooner or later."
The Rev. Dr. Bernard Oakes, pastor of Lordstown Christian Church, said he hasn't noticed a reduction in Sunday collections with the bad news swirling around GM and auto parts maker Delphi Packard Electric Systems.
The Rev. Mr. Oakes contributes the steady collections to his congregation's being made up of many retirees.
Mr. Oakes said he is aware during times of economic stress that marriages sometimes become strained, and there is drug and alcohol abuse when money is tight. "We're alert and aware," the pastor said.
Going with the flow
Diane Flaviani and her brother, Dominic Flaviani, are owners of Flav's Hoot'n Holler, a convenience store at Salt Springs and Lyntz Townline roads.
"It's just bad everywhere," she said of the economy, warning not to get her started on what the government has done to small-business owners.
Flav's does a lot of business with GM employees between 5:30 a.m. and midnight -- about 90 percent from automakers and those in related industries.
Diane Flaviani said she and her brother have changed store hours before to accommodate the customers and keep their business and will do so again if needed.
Survivors
At Country Crafts & amp; Collectibles, owner Sue Minor shook her head. One of her three sons has worked the midnight shift for five years and was among those told of the shutdown.
Minor said "business hasn't been great" since Delphi announced it was filing for bankruptcy. In fact, business fell off after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but was starting to return until the economic troubles of Delphi and GM emerged.
Helping Minor is that her family operates Minor's auto repair next to her Salt Springs store. She noted her ancestors were among the founders of Lordstown.
"I'll survive," the 50-year-old Minor said, "We're not going anywhere."
As Minor views it, GM has provided a living to a lot of families. "God never closes the door without opening a window. I'm optimistic," she added.
Terry Baxter, 49, of Southington, is also optimistic. He was laboring for Garland & amp; Sons, a Newton Falls excavating company that was working in the new Woodridge Estates housing development.
Baxter is involved in building houses. About 95 percent of the work he does is for professionals wanting to live in the area, to work in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
"People are buying. People are adding on. The area is cheap to live in," Baxter said.
yovich@vindy.com