Merchants near Colorado Springs-area military installations respond to possibility of federal government shutdown this weekend

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The possibility of the federal government shutting down at the end of its fiscal year because of budgetary differences means that around a million members of the U.S. military may not paid for however long a shutdown would last.

And that worries some business owners outside local military installations who endured lost business and reduced profits from the previous shutdown; it lasted for 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019.

Two merchants along Space Village Avenue, near the north gate of Peterson Space Force Base, recalled that period.

“We lost 20% of our sales, but we still had to pay the employees," said Sam Avina, a manager at Sandy's Restaurant. "That just kills the business. It’s crippling, really. Our employees have families and they need their jobs. We're talking with them, trying to prepare for what may happen."

Lizet Ortiz, owner of Daniel's Taco Shop, said that she lost half of her sales and then had to struggle to remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It actually takes quite a few months to recover because you have to have to start going into what you have saved for emergencies and other expenses," she explained. "It also happens that when your business slows down, it tends to be a coincidence that equipment breaks. You have other things happen that you’re not counting on.”

Several business owners said that they had to temporarily lay off employees and staff during that time, and worked hard to regain that lost business.

Meanwhile, along B Street near Fort Carson -- where many shops cater to soldiers -- three businesses offered different perspectives.

"For small businesses, $100 here and $100 dollars there makes a huge difference," said Tom Boldt, owner of Bulldog Armory Guns & Ammo. "It would be something that we’d have to struggle through, and figure out new routes to try and stay open.”

Richard Garrett, co-owner of Tasty Korean Restaurant, said that while he doesn't like the possibility of a shutdown, he understands it -- and even agrees with it to a certain degree.

“I don’t wish for anybody to have financial problems or financial worries," he said. "But we have to address certain things. We have to address certain issues today. It might be worth a government shutdown to get there, so we can get things accomplished in the right way."

Joriel Rodriguez-Bieves, an employee at the LN Barber Shop, said that he doesn't believe the business will suffer from a shutdown.

 "I’m not worried at all," he said. "I come to work every day. It affects us more when they're deployed than when the government shuts down. I’d rater them be here. They’re still going to get haircuts. Nothing’s going to change for the barber shop.”

Others say that what they're most unhappy about is simply the uncertainty over whether a shutdown will actually happen.

The general feeling is that these businesses are preparing for whatever may happen, but there is some optimism that Congress will agree on a budget in the final hours before the deadline -- as it often does.