Winter's worst proved to be far worse than imagined, with as much as five feet of snow burying much of the nation - from Texas through the upper Ohio Valley, to the Mid-Atlantic Coast, and lower New England - in back-to-back-to-back storms.
Life ground to a halt, transportation systems found themselves parked, commerce ceased and - instead of the widely anticipated new round of sales and healthy winter profits - businesses experienced lost revenue and higher costs for everything from employee absences and parking-lot plowing to rooftop shoveling and pipe replacement.
Retailers with operations concentrated in the affected areas - like Dick's, Bon-Ton Stores Inc., and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. - reported revenue losses of 15% to 30% in the first 10 days of February. That was a hard pill to swallow for many, like Bon-Ton, which had just reported a 5.3% increase in same-store sales for January - especially since the likelihood of making up the lost sales was slim.
Dan Hess, chief executive officer of the retail research firm Merchant Forecast LLC , told The Associated Press that many malls, department stores and specialty stores suffered losses of 10% to 25% during the week of the first storm, which would have a lasting impact on profits.
"When it happens in the slow months of January and February, you don't make that business back," Hess said.

The story continues:

Government is a Loser - From the Winter Weather, That is

State and municipal governments are among the biggest losers from the wicked winter weather, with many having used up their entire annual budgets for snow clearance, road plowing, pothole repair and other weather-related maintenance in just a couple of weeks. Also gone in many locales are supplies of sand and rock salt used for battling icy roads, and that means new orders and increased revenue for suppliers.

The largest publicly traded specialist in de-icing products is Compass Minerals International Inc. (NYSE: CMP ), which produces salt and magnesium chloride for use by road crews and operates a rock-salt mine in Goderich , Ontario. Compass Minerals' shares were trading at more than $75 a share late last week - close to its 52-week high of $75.71. That means that investors have already recognized some of the renewed demand - which the firm normally experiences in the fall. But the fact that more than half the country now needs to reorder could mean that there's plenty of upside left for investors who buy in now.