Home»» In less than one week's time New York City and its environs were hit with a tornado, earthquake and hurricane. What are the chances? The weather stories preoccupied the news, and even upstaged Kim Kardashian’s wedding to Kris Humphries.
Not subject to natural disasters or acts of God, retail is like the church or the U.S. Post Office--it never closes! With a stagnant economy and a volatile stock market, retailers are promoting their end-of-the-season sales, fall previews hitting the stores, back-to-school sales and the ever-important Labor Day sales. This is an important quarter for retailers. I’m not saying they’re giving merchandise away, but Macy’s and JCPenney were running deep discounts to lure in customers, with a $25 bonus and 20 percent off already-discounted items this weekend. Even they couldn’t have prepared for what was about to befall us.
First, the 5.6 earthquake caused many buildings to jostle and sway. I was blissfully unaware, as nearly every retailer and office building was being evacuated. It was one big street gathering reminiscent of the 1960s happenings, or a flash mob, sans the dance number. When Saks, H&M, Banana Republic, Zara and Anthropologie all let out onto the street at the same time, there is room for potential pandemonium.
Cell phone usage was blocked out by the satellites, which couldn’t handle the amount of call activity. The word on the street turned from rumors of terrorism, to the global climatic weather changes in the Artic pole, to the harmonic convergence scheduled for 12/12/12, and even Nostradamus’ prediction of the apocalypse. Of greatest concern to tourists, benign Californians and shopaholics was:when is The Gap reopening?
Retailers are a practical lot, if not lighthearted. Even after the earthquake, before an aftershock was felt, stores reopened within a hour and handwritten “Earthquake Sale” signs were up in the windows.
Once all that hoopla was barely over, we braced for hurricane Irene. A boon to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and the local Ace Hardware, which sold out of flashlights, batteries, duct tape and plywood. Grocery stores couldn’t stock bread and water fast enough. The Mayor placed evacuation orders in effect. The show did not go on…on Broadway, even "Mamma Mia" closed until further notice. The MTA shut down all trains, buses and subways. New Yorkers were non-plussed when the Stock Exchange closed early, but shock swept throughout the city when Starbucks announced it was closing all its locations for three days. Now it looked bad.
While the world was bracing for Irene, I was focused on more important things like Barneys, as in Barneys New York, which was holding its Annual Warehouse Sale on West 17th Street. How could a tropical storm do this to me? I anticipated that no other idiots (besides myself) would deign to venture to Chelsea during a hurricane. Brother was I was wrong, as always, the line was outside the door and halfway down the block. The lines for the local emergency shelters were not as long. Rain pelted and gale force winds were menacing. I, like my NY colleagues, love a good sale. Once safely inside, I was taken aback the despicable behavior of customers, the grabbing, the shouting, the pulling things off the hangers--and that was just me! Two women nearly came to blows over a Zac Posnan size 12, which is rarer than a loaf of Wonder Bread at The Food Emporium. In their defense, it was a size 12! I saw lots of great buys, but nothing in my size, standard size 40, 32-in. waist, 32-in. inseam, a classic medium men’s. Everything was small or large or designed for Graham Norton. Drat the luck! I could see the headline in the post: “Shiver Me Timbers” with the subheading “Barneys customer killed in hurricane, didn’t even have a sale item!” What a way to go!
--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger
