After the storm, some start shopping again

As the effects of Hurricane Sandy subsided in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday, stores, restaurants and malls began to fill with consumers who were restocking their pantries, charging their mobile devices, even doing some early holiday shopping.

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Retailers ranging from Ace Hardware to Nordstrom to Walmart slowly reopened in storm-hit areas.

Those selling storm-related supplies were doing a brisk business, and stores were quickly restocking to cope with another wave of emergency supply customers.

"More than 100 truckloads filled with generators, chainsaws, wet and dry vacuums, flashlights, batteries and lanterns, along with dehumidifiers, utility and sump pumps are headed east from distribution points in six areas, including 42 distribution centers from as far west as Memphis and Chicago," Sears Holding spokesman Tom Aiello said late Tuesday.

Sears had 80 stores closed on Tuesday, down from 187 on Monday. The closings spanned Virginia to New Hampshire.

Home improvement: Ace Hardware distributed more than 20 tractor-trailers full of generators to stores in the storm-affected areas, says John Happel, regional manager for the Mid-Atlantic and New York metro area, where Ace has more than 300 stores. Now, the big things that will be moving "are sump pumps, shop vacs, mops, brooms, cleaners, bleach and chainsaws to clean up fallen trees," he says.

Lynn Richardson of Windsor Mill, Md., says losing power has "gotten old" so she's in the market for a generator. She'll wait awhile to do some price comparisons. Pamm Peterson of Lutherville, Md., plans to get a generator, too, as well as additional head-mounted lights, which came in handy when her family had to bail out the basement after she lost power for 18 hours and the sump pump stopped working.

Department stores: About 130 of 850 Macy's stores were closed Monday, mostly because employees couldn't get to work when mass transit was shut down in many areas, including New York City, spokesman Jim Sluzewski says. At Nordstrom, "the common consensus is that customers have told us they're happy we've been able to open for them," says Nordstrom spokeswoman Tara Darrow.

Discounters: Target, which still had about 20 stores closed late Tuesday, was trying to reopen and restock as quickly as possible to "ensure the communities impacted have access to essential items," says spokeswoman Jessica Deede. The shelves were largely empty at both Walmart and Home Depot when Richardson went shopping for battery-operated lanterns . "Even bread and milk were hard to come by," she says.

Two of Sears' stores were significantly damaged -- one in Rosedale, N.Y., which had four feet of water in it, and another in Brockton, Mass., which suffered roof damage. Damage to Target stores was mostly limited to front doors and roofs, which were leaking. More than 40 stores were operating on generator power.

But retail analyst Ken Perkins of Retail Metrics, says it did not appear that many stores had structural damage from the storm, so he expects they'll "bounce back quickly and recapture a good portion of lost sales." He says it will help that the storm occurred well before the busy Thanksgiving shopping weekend so retailers can adjust promotional plans to make up for lost sales.

Arundel Mills outlet mall in Columbia, Md., was bustling with customers, benefiting from comparably mild storm effects and the fact that the federal government and area schools were closed. At The Olive Garden restaurant across from the mall, diners lingered over food to take advantage of power outlets to charge their phones.

USA Today