Weather proves no boon to the bottom line

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Talk about adding insult to injury thats exactly what last Thursdays monster storm did to Karing by Kristina on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray.

Not only was the boutique pet shop without power until Saturday night, but it was also burglarized Friday night because the loss of power also killed the alarm system. 

They came in and cleaned out our cash register, said owner Kristina Robertson. We discovered it when we opened up late Saturday.

As was the case in many areas, the loss and regaining of electric power seemed to be highly erratic. 

Just two blocks down Mount Vernon Avenue, Kiskadee regained their power by Friday morning, according to Cornelia Hall, co-owner. There was no damage. We really lucked out, Hall said.

The West End seemed to fare very well with owners reporting little or no business disruption. 

There was no problem at all, said Christopher St. Pierre, owner of Authentically Amish in the Foxchase Shopping Center on Duke Street. Our entire shopping center seemed to fare very well. 

That was also the case for Tempo Restaurant at 4231 Duke St. 

We werent interrupted at all, said manager Cesar Lazo. It was a very busy night for us with a lot of walk-in business.

In Old Town it was a mixed bag with businesses reporting everything from total power loss to only partial or no loss. Pat Troys Irelands Own had some loss of power but they were able to remain open.

We were very busy Thursday night, said Kathleen Molloy, the restaurants manager. The only problem was we had to do credit card payments the old fashioned way because the machine was down. And, it seemed like everyone was paying by credit card.

However, the story was very different at Fontaine Caffe&Creperie around the corner on South Royal Street. We had to close because we were totally out of power until after 11 p.m., said Eren Leon.

Lower King Street and Union Street faced a similar predicament. We were out about four hours, said Bart Paz, manager of Bugsys Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar. We closed when the storm hit and didnt open until Friday morning.

The Fish Market was also forced to close when the storm hit and wasnt able to open until the next day, according to manager Jesse Mass. Thankfully for the restaurant, the worst case scenario didnt materialize.

We didnt have any spoilage. The freezers were closed and everything was okay, Mass said.

The Christmas Attic on Union Street was forced to close when they lost power about 5 p.m., according to Fay Carter, the stores owner, but business really boomed over the weekend. The heat didnt seem to bother any of our customers, she said.

That was not the case at Kings Jewelry, mid-way up King Street, where owner Norman Bradford said the power was out until about 2 p.m. on Saturday.

We were open and had customers but it was miserable in here, Bradford said. I know I lost one significant sale because our polishing machinery wouldnt operate. People seem to forget that there was a time when there was no such thing as air conditioning.

Like so many things in life, it all depended on where you were when the storm blew in. Mother Nature doesnt play favorites or does she?

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