THE FLIP SIDE TO SANDY: LOCAL BUSINESSES BOOMING

As much as we love to yell at each other on this site, I think we can all agree that Hurricane Sandy was a gigantic bitch of a tragedy for the tri-state area. The effects of this hurricane will likely be felt for weeks, months and even years to come. Lives were lost, homes were lost, and those who were hit hardest have literally had their whole world turned upside down. 

But here in Park Slope, it rained, it was windy, and we basically had a bunch of trees fall...that was kind of it.My electricity never went off, my cable was great, and I never even lost internet.

And through it all, most Park Slope businesses kept their doors wide open. 

And that folks, is one of the very few positive things to result from this Sandy craziness: local businesses were making a shitload more money than they normally do for the past week. 

Yes the circumstances sucked a gigantic dizzle, but still: most people were homebound for a solid week and they were hungry, thirsty and needed to buy shit. These shop owners provided much needed supplies, food and services for Park Slopers. 

Here's what we we were hearing from local businesses around the neighborhood: 

• A wine shop on 7th Ave said that the day before the storm hit, they had a night of sales that was equivalent to their volume at Thanksgiving/Christmas. Every day since the storm, they've been selling double the amount of booze that they normally do.
• Went to Talde for brunch on Saturday and the bartender told @ninedaves and I: "This is the busiest brunch I've ever seen in here. We ran out of food on Tuesday and Wednesday and needed to close early."
• Zito's has run out of food every day since Sandy hit at both their 7th Ave location AND their 5th Ave location. They too had double the amount of business that they normally do. "We didn't have time to catch up," said co-owner Enzo Conigliaro. They even ran out of Six Point Beer, until Six Point reps generously stepped up and rushed to deliver some more. 
• "I'm not even looking at numbers, but every night has felt like a Friday night here," said Pizza Plus owner Roz Dayne. "We've been here for 25 years, through blizzards and disasters. And I've always viewed it as my duty to serve the people of this great neighborhood. To give them food. To give them comfort" added Dayne.
• From La Bagel Delight: "We've been slammed. You know, one of the busiest days we ever had was 9/11, and this was just like that. People were looking for some place to go, and we were happy to be here to serve the community as best we could." 

And while making a few extra bucks is a nice thing, many of these businesses tried to pay it forward with generous donations to the Sandy recovery relief.

Apparently a NY Times Writer suggested on Facebook that Park Slopers could help those at the Armory shelter on 15th street by sending over Pizza's from Pizza Plus or Smiling. Dayne said that after the post they were inundated with donation orders, many of which Pizza Plus sent on their own as well. 

Here are some other local businesses who really pitched in donating food, collection space, organizational efforts and time to help in the Sandy Recovery. So if you want to support the local businesses that were trying to do their part, here are a few of the ones you should be buying lots of shit from: 

Zito's

Gear to Go Outfitters

Pizza Plus

Film Biz Recycling

Bicycle Habitat

Two Boots Pizza

Whimsy & Spice

Robicelli's

Community Bookstore

Cafe Grumpy

Java Joe Brooklyn