BAKERSFIELD, CA - It has been nearly a year and a half since a car plowed into Martin's Meats in downtown Bakersfield, and the front window is still boarded up.
The family says some potential customers don't realize they're still open.
Martin Chavez, Jr. says the store windows have been boarded up since October 2011. Although it's impacting the amount of people coming in, he says they're trying not to let it get in their way.
"Their barbecue that they have once a week and their sandwiches, are really good too. Everything here is awesome," said customer Todd Danielson.
"They're family and, you know, the quality of the meats I get here is some of the best," said customer Chris Marquez.
The food at Martin's Meats has many customers coming back for more. But, bringing in new customers has been difficult.
"Some people do drive by and they do think we're closed because of the boards. And, it's just waiting right now still, still in the middle of waiting. It's been a while," said Martin Chavez, Jr. of his family's business. "It's business as usual every day. We try not to let the little things get in our way. We still gotta keep going."
Their regulars don't mind the boards. They say it's all about what's inside.
"They're awesome people. They're very nice and they appreciate people's loyalty," said Danielson.
The building's owner says he hired a contractor several months ago to start the repairs. Until then, the windows remain boarded up.
17 News spoke with the owner of the building, Jay Oh, on Thursday. He says he received $7,000 from the insurance company and paid a contractor in July, $5,100 of the $6,500 repair cost. But, there have been several delays.
Oh says the windows should be fixed in about a month.
A clarification to this story:
Our story explained how the store remains boarded up because of a dispute with a different contractor.
We want to make clear that contractor is not Gold Coast Construction.
