Small shops fight to survive Sandy

Pumping water out of basements and yanking rotten food out of refrigerators, shop and restaurant owners said on Thursday they wonder when the power will come back and, more importantly, how they will possibly recover from the damage left by Sandy.

Thousands of small businesses, without power since the storm hit New York City on Monday, face the likelihood of darkness at least until the weekend, if not longer, authorities say.

As to the bigger question of survival, many despair of their options. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said small- and medium-sized businesses will be able to apply for emergency loans of up to $10,000 to help them recover from the disaster.

It's better than a kick in the butt, said Laura Tribuno, co-owner of Edi and the Wolf, an Austrian-themed restaurant on Avenue C in the Manhattan neighborhood known as Alphabet City.

It might buy a deep freezer, she said.

Damage from Sandy, which swept through the neighborhood  with flooding and dangerous winds, more than wiped out the year's profits, she estimated.

The cost of replacing equipment and merchandise will be about $80,000, and it could be weeks before paying customers can return, she said. I would at least expect some massive tax break, she said.

As she spoke, workers clad in wading boots carted out plastic crates filled with foul- smelling water and ruined refrigerator equipment. Inside the dark, cold dining room, staff and friends scrubbed the floor, wiped off furniture and stacked up grimy crates of wine bottles.

On the next block, Monica Pedreros, who owns a decades-old hardware store with her husband, said she fears her insurance does not cover flooding and that Bloomberg's offer of an emergency loan falls far short of what they need.

To us, it doesn't seem like a lot of help, she said. We don't want to get into more debt because we've lost a lot.

... contd.

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