Retailers lose business during Sandy

HADLEY, Mass. (WWLP) - Power was not the only thing lost Monday.  In anticipation of the storm, many businesses in Northampton, Hadley and Amherst lost business after closing early. Some, never even opened.

“I got here about noon and half the town was closed. We decided to not even open because it wasn't worth it,” said Jackie Kidd, a sales associate at Monella inside Thornes Marketplace . 

Thornes closed at two Monday afternoon; as the Northeast braced for Sandy's impact. 

“I came out and the most reliable shop that I could find that was open was CVS. It was very strange it seemed like an ominous horror film,” said Alison Tammaro of Northampton. 

Down the street on Rt. 9 in Hadley, the iParty Halloween Pop-Up Store also closed at two and took a big a hit. The manager hopes to have a strong last couple of days, as the store is seasonal and they close for good Wednesday night.

“But thankfully it didn't impact the weekend; we had a really strong weekend. Being that it was a Monday we weren't forecast to do a tremendous amount of sales for the day, we’re probably behind 75%,” said Joanne Sherwood, the store’s manager. 

One business that wasn't behind on sales was Antonio's Pizza in Amherst. Manager Jay Carreiro says waiting out the storm brought in a crowd.

“We have a back up plan, a back up generator, so we're usually ready for this; we were open last year during the snow storm,” said Carreiro inside the shop Tuesday afternoon. “No delivery, but foot traffic was pretty high with all of the college students coming out, a lot of the Amherst College students came out.”

Business owners at Thornes say they hope Wednesday afternoon's Trick or Treat festivities bring in a rush of customers.