Fort Worth Stores Reopen as Ice Thaws, Road Conditions Improve Friday

After days of wintry weather and icy conditions, many stores in Fort Worth have reopened as road conditions improve.

817 Vintage Hype along Magnolia Avenue opened its doors Friday after being closed all week. The store is typically closed on Mondays, but Mark Fabinal with the business said they decided to close Tuesday through Thursday in the interest of keeping employees and customers safe.

“It’s different. It’s weird getting the weather being back to normal and everything,” Fabinal said. “It feels weird seeing people outside with no jacket on. It feels warm outside.”

The store is getting ready for a vintage swap meet in Dallas this weekend. Fabinal spent Friday getting caught up on everything that needs to be done before the weekend.

“It’s a lot of work. We have to get the clothes ready. Take stuff out of here, take stuff to Dallas. Get everything ready to go,” he said. “It [storm] set us back a little, but we’ll get through it. We just got to get everything ready.”

Emphemera, a plant shop nearby, resumed its normal business hours Friday. Store employee Matthew Gibbons said they shut down for a portion of the week, but they reopened Thursday with limited store hours.

“Didn’t really make sense to stay open. People aren’t really coming out to buy plants when you can’t drive on the roads without four-wheel drive,” Gibbons said.

He spent most of Thursday making sure plants were watered and taken care of.

Fort Worth residents like Andrew Epps said he welcomed the warmer temperatures Friday after days of below-freezing temperatures.

“All the roads are melting and grass is a lot greener. Reminds me more of Texas,” Epps said. “All you need is a kind of heavy jacket and everything else is great. Don’t have to wear multiple layers when I’m leaving the house and having to wear long-john underwear or something. That’s weird for Texas. So not something I’m used to.”

With fog forecast for Saturday morning and temperatures below freezing, there is the potential for freezing fog to create a few more slick spots on the roads on Saturday.