No power doesn’t stop some stores

By Don Shilling

Businesses used various strategies to deal with the loss of power.

BOARDMAN — The Country Fair on South Avenue couldn’t sell gas without power, but cashier Marie Giannini persuaded her boss to open the convenience store anyway.

That decision was popular with homeowners who didn’t have electricity Monday and were concerned about food in the refrigerator.

“We’re selling ice like it’s going out of style,” said Giannini, who was recording sales on a sheet of paper because the register wouldn’t work.

With a flashlight in hand, the manager, Linda Maltbie, just shrugged when asked how the store would cope if power was out for more than a day.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly before turning to her supervisor and asking if there was insurance for a power outage. He wasn’t sure.

Uncertainty swirled around much of the Boardman business district Monday morning as those without power wondered when it would be restored. Some workers said they had heard from delivery drivers and customers that power could be out for days.

The businesses said later in the day that their power was restored in the afternoon, however.

In Boardman, the outage extended from Country Fair headed south to Western Reserve Road. Also, most businesses on the north side of Boardman-Canfield Road from Market Street to Hitchcock Road didn’t have power.

Several stores had signs that said they were closed.

One business, Jay’s Hot Dogs, had power but almost had to close because a bakery was unable to deliver buns. Greg Betrakos, owner of the Jay’s location at 68 Boardman-Canfield Road, saw a truck from another bakery across the street and ran over. He got a delivery and kept his store open.

Just two doors down, Circuit City didn’t have power in the morning. John Vallinger, store manager, said he closed the business for the safety of customers and because the cash registers wouldn’t work.

A Chase branch was serving its customers, despite a lack of power. Two employees were greeting customers as they got out of their cars. Inside, about a dozen people waited inside the darkened branch to deal with tellers. A branch manager said she wasn’t allowed to talk about steps the bank has taken to deal with the power outage.

Carmen Amadio, owner of Tesone’s Boot & Shoe Repair, had his store open despite a lack of power. Customers could drop off or pick up items, but he couldn’t make any repairs because his machines wouldn’t run. He said he’ll be busy when power is restored, but he expects to lose some sales from people who drop off simple jobs that can be done while they wait.

Businesses in the Boardman Plaza across the street had power. Amadio said it sometimes happens that one side of the street has power and the other doesn’t.

Over on South Avenue, most of the 33 employees at Modern Office Products were told to stay home because the business had no power.

Bill Cross, business owner, said he normally receives about 150 orders a day for office supplies, but he received few orders while the power was down. Internet service was out, and he had limited phone service through a generator that was providing some power to the building.

He still was able to have a relaxed attitude about the business troubles he was facing. Many companies that were hit by the brunt of Hurricane Ike will be closed for weeks and could go out of business, he said.

“We have been thinking that this is easy compared to what is going on in Texas,” he said.

shilling@vindy.com