Hot weather bad for business
Ice cream vendors and beer garden owners are hoping the weather cools down as they report drops in visitor numbers as people opt to stay at home to escape the heat.
At the other end of the spectrum electronic goods retailers and mineral water producers are doing good business in the heat.
When temperatures reach over 30 degrees mineral water producers make very lucrative profit. Many expect a double figure plus in sales. Particularly sought after is mild mineral water with very little gas.
Electronics firms are also doing good business – especially with fans and air conditioning units which are all but sold out.
The demand is set to continue as temperatures are expect to reach 40 degrees on Thursday.
But other business branches which usually depend on good weather are suffering as it is ‘too hot’.
Silvio Molin-Pradel, Spokesperson for the Vienna Ice Cafes said: “Most ice cream vendors had a good July. But through the day there is not as much business, most people wait until after work and in the evenings when it cools down. Many people spend the day at the swimming pool or just stay at home to avoid the heat. At the moment it is almost too much good weather for business.
In the gastronomy it is a similar situation Wilhelm Turecek from the Chamber of Commerce said: “People are only going to the beer gardens and cafes when the sun goes down. People are then drinking more water rather than beer.
The weather also affects the sport branch. When the weather’s good people go walking, running and out on their bikes. But when it gets really hot people avoid these activities. People tend then to go swimming, but swim wear is only a very small part of the assortment in sports shops.
Public swimming pools in Vienna are profiting from the heat wave. On July 28th there were record breaking numbers of guests at the pools. 145,000 people visited a public pool in Vienna on this day – 7 per cent more than the previous record day in July 2012.
As an alternative to the public pools – churches are a visitor hit. The thick walls mean there are sometimes temperature differences of 25 degrees C. For example the Michaelerkirche and die Augustinerkirche have a temperature of currently 24 degrees c indoors. The Karlskirche and the Stephansdom are much warmer with temperatures of 28 degrees C.