Businesses Worried About Prolonged Power Outages

The carpets inside Bank Square Books on West Main Street were soaking wet early Tuesday morning.

“It’s the last thing downtown needed,” Co-Owner Annie Philbrick said.

During the height of Monday night's storm surge from Hurricane Sandy brought two inches of water covered the floor of Bank Square Books. The independent bookstore got off lucky though in some ways.

Philbrick said they prepared for the storm by moving all the store’s merchandise to higher shelves in the store and water did not touch the majority of Bank Square’s items. Tuesday afternoon volunteers including The Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce’s Tricia Walsh moved books into the empty upstairs apartment so the carpets could be fixed.

“It’s good to be out of the house so I’m happy to help,” Walsh who was without electricity at her home said.

Bank Square hopes to open as soon as they can, and Philibrick said they would open without power taking cash only.

Places serving food, such as Bartleby's Café in Mystic and Bogue’s Alley and Mel's Downtown Creamery in Pawcatuck have to wait for power to re-open.

“Still no power…but we stayed dry,” Bogue’s Alley said on their Facebook page. They said they would let everyone know as soon as they could open.

At Bartleby’s in Mystic owner Ross Mandel surveyed the damage on Tuesday afternoon. The coffee house had about two inches of water come into the store but the biggest problem Mandel said was the lack of power.

“I won’t know how much we’ve lost until we get power back,” Mandel said.

Melanie Goggin of Mel's Downtown Creamery said they had already lost a lot of product. They tossed more than 40 tubs of ice cream, four cases of soft serve, 40 pounds of cookie dough and three cheesecakes.

"It was a very depressing day but we are trying to look at the positive side; we were able to save 40 full tubs, there was no water damage, and most importantly everyone is safe," Goggin said, adding that they 40 tubs they saved was thanks to the help of some customers.

For the businesses that didn’t lose power or worked off a generator Tuesday was very busy. At Wide World of Bagels in Mystic the lined stretched around the shop and out the door during the part of the morning as people searched for coffee and place to charge their electronics.

But while Wide World didn’t lose power in Mystic part owner Elliot Cohen said their New Jersey location remained without power.