Business take major hit thanks to power outages, flooding

March 09--MARSHFIELD -- Brant Rock Market was bustling on Thursday as customers traded jokes while waiting for breakfast sandwiches, and one woman placed a bakery order for the weekend.

To the naked eye it looked like business as usual, but the family-owned market was struggling to recover after flooding and power failures forced three days of closure and caused almost $20,000 in product losses.

"Every time we'd turn around we couldn't get into the store, or the parking lot would be flooded," owner Trish Devine said. "This is our slowest time of year to begin with, and then to have this is just an additional blow."

Much of Scituate and Marshfield were dark for anywhere from three to five days after a massive storm last weekend brought flooding and strong winds to the vulnerable coastal communities. Residents kept themselves warm with wood-burning stoves; public works employees chased down reports of fallen trees and pumped out flooded basements, and business owners prayed their losses would be minimal.

"It's been stressful --not a lot of sleep and a lot of worry," Mary Ellen Stoddard, owner of the Lucky Finn in Scituate, said. "We saw all these conflicting weather reports and just didn't know what was coming."

Flooded roads and blackout conditions left businesses in Brant Rock, Humarock and on Scituate's Front Street unable to operate for days. The loss of customers is enough to make a business owner worry, but for restaurants and markets that sell perishable goods, the loss of refrigeration can mean thousands of dollars worth of spoiled food.

The market, located just two blocks from a breached seawall on Ocean Street in Marshfield's Brant Rock neighborhood, lost power late Friday night. The store managed to escape major flooding or long-term damage, but didn't get power back until Monday morning. The result was over $19,000 in lost product -- from melted ice cream to spoiled milk and fresh meat that wasn't refrigerated all weekend.

Every dairy product, frozen good and cut of meat had to be tossed, and insurance only covers a percentage of lost product, Devine said. Insurance doesn't cover loss of business at all, and the store is now trying to refill its empty shelves.

"We don't have the money to restock all at once, so we'll be restocking a little bit at a time for five weeks," she said.

Just down the road, The Jetty was closed for more than five full days after high tides deposited tons of rock in front of the restaurant. The building itself didn't sustain much damage, but owner Tracy Vaughan said just the loss of weekend business is a doozy. On top of that, she was looking at a cost of roughly $10,000 to remove all the rubble before the city stepped in to help.

"It's heartbreaking, and it's overwhelming because you think 'where do I start,' " she said. "The best call I've ever gotten was the head of the DPW calling on Sunday to say they were going to dig out our parking lot."

For Stoddard, this winter was the first she's endured as owner of the Lucky Finn on Front Street. The cafe has been open for four years, but Stoddard and her husband just took over last summer. This storm was the first under their ownership that caused power outages, resulting in what she called a "tremendous amount" of food spoilage.

Before the storm the Stoddards boarded up the cafe's back windows and blocked the doors, which helped minimize damage to the property itself. While the owner was grateful for that, she said they lost at least $2,000 in spoiled meats, dairy and eggs, and probably another $2,000 to $4,000 in lost business. The cafe reopened Monday morning with a limited menu made from supermarket-purchased ingredients, and has been working its way back up to fully operational.

"The hard part this week is ramping back up. A lot of places in the Harbor weren't as fortunate, and since everyone isn't open people assume nobody is, so getting back to normal is hard," Stoddard said. "The customers I'm not so worried about, I know they'll come back, but it's hard for us as business owners to lose that revenue."

All three business owners agreed on one thing: their small businesses will be OK thanks to an out pouring of community support.

"When we first came back to the store, we weren't even sure we were going to serve the public, but people kept coming by saying 'oh thank God you have power,' " Devine said. "They've been unbelievable. I've had 20 customers privately email or text me asking if we needed anything."

Mary Whitfill may be reached at mwhitfill@ledger.com.

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