New York Businesses Brave the Storm

New York is known as the city that never sleeps, but Irene managed to nearly shut it down.

Image: Reuters

Hurricane, and then tropical storm, Irene hit the East Coast of the United States over the weekend bringing heavy rain, wind, and New Yorkers complaining about their ruined brunch plans on Twitter. The city escaped lightly, but areas upstate as well as Vermont and New Jersey suffered nasty flooding and electricity outages.

With the New York City public transport system shutting down on Saturday, and mandatory evacuations of low-lying areas, many supermarkets and bodegas sold out of basics like bottled water and toilet paper. On Friday evening, the line outside the Union Square Trader Joe's stretched down the block. And the line for the wine store a few doors up was just as long, if not longer.

In that vein, many bars and restaurants around the city offered hurricane specials, but only a few braved the full force of the storm and stayed open usual hours. Lillie's, a bar near Union Square, refused to close and harbored both locals and evacuees on Saturday night. “The only damage will be hangovers,” the staunch owner told the New York Times when asked if he was worried about storm damage.

A borough away, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Prospect Park, pie shop Dub Pies didn't let the weather get in the way of a planned exhibition opening. The shop stayed open on Saturday night and Sunday, evening offering a discount to those who were in New York to take part in the cancelled Firemen and Police Olympics. “Thanks to all of our awesome customers for being patient & for tipping our hard-working staff so handsomely at The Pie Shop. We love you all!” owner Gareth Hughes tweeted,

Some Equinox gyms stayed open as long as possible on Saturday night, and supermarkets like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's opened early that morning. Even an umbrella salesman called Motown risked staying outside for boosted business.

But the threat of Irene was too much for others. New York's Apple stores, including the Fifth Avenue store which never usually sleeps, shut up shop on Saturday and Sunday. And if you were after a caffeine fix during the hurricane, with Starbucks closed you were out of luck.

With small businesses generally hit harder than others during natural disasters, the full impact of the storm remains to be seen. What did you business do during the hurricane?

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