(UPDATED COVERAGE, July 5): A June 29-July 1 storm downed trees and cut power from the Midwest to the Eastern Shore, leaving millions without electricity. Temperatures neared or exceeded 100 degrees from Atlanta to the Northeast.
Dave Goodman, president of Sid Goodman & Co. Inc., Jessup, Md., said the storm and loss of power hurt Independence Day holiday sales.
“With the heat and electricity out, it has been a crazy and messed-up week,” he said July 3. “It affected us because a lot of customers didn’t have their stores open. The ones that did, their customers didn’t have electricity to buy anything at the stores, so they couldn’t bring anything home to cook or refrigerate it.”
Goodman said distributors that should have been busy for Fourth of July holiday sales but characterized business as only “half busy.”
Aris Pappas, vice president of Washington, D.C.-based Pete Pappas & Sons Inc., said he had no problem distributing the week of July 2.
Though many supermarket customers remained without electricity, Pappas said power crews were working to return service.
The storm is blamed for killing more than a dozen people.
Comments (0) Leave a comment