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lost power for [more than] a week and didn't get hot water or heat back in the office for another week after that. Luckily, that was all we really had to deal with. There were so many other people who were worse off." Mintz adds, "We were not able to ship any orders for over a week, but we were able to get online outside the office and provide regular updates to our customers." While most businesses managed to regain their footing quickly and get up and running in time for the holiday rush, all have had to deal with lost revenue and business slowdowns. "We are definitely still dealing with the impact of Sandy," continues Mintz. "We are still waiting for many shipments from our New Jersey vendors, many of which were hit very hard." Sandy's Impact Moving Forward C.O. Bigelow was able to recoup quickly once it reopened, although the revenue lost during what is normally a busy time of year was lost forever. "The revenue lost from the week of being closed is certainly something we can't get back," says Ginsberg. "We lost drugs that were stored in the refrigerator and freezer. We had to close down, which is something that has never happened in our 175 years of business. But at the end of the day, it's only money. We are back to business as usual. This storm had a huge impact on our city with many buildings still uninhabitable. People lost their business records and archives. People in more remote areas, such as Long Island, had to deal with trees tangled in power lines that were impossible to remove, and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was filled with water at one point. We are thankful we were only minimally affected overall." Cutler Salons' Reynolds says that his primary concern has been making sure the salon can accommodate all the clients it was unable to serve during the storm. "With the holiday season, we need to make sure we get everyone in 42 February 2013 | beautystorebusiness.com who we weren't able to accommodate during the two weeks of delays from the storm. Financially, it was tough being only partially operational for that length of time. It will take us some time to get caught up in terms of cash flow." For Barna of Birchbox, the storm was a learning experience. "We realized that our company can work together during times of crisis. We learned a lot, and I think we did a great job and will be even more prepared if something like this happens again," she says. "We've been able to get back on track quickly, and at this point, our office and warehouse are fully functioning." Ginsberg adds that he learned from the experience too. "You hope it won't happen again. I think a lot of people, ourselves included, learned a valuable lesson. Many people are now looking at purchasing generators and being more prepared in general. We were lucky in that we utilize cloud financial, which protected most of our information." He continues, "We are back up now like nothing ever happened. Fortunately, the Web survives hurricanes." Hurricane Sandy is considered a lesson learned by many businesses and individuals. Nothing shuts down a metropolis like New York City; but a disaster like Sandy can certainly cramp its style. Adds Reynolds, "I think the most important thing one can take away from a situation like this is the ability to be flexible. We have uniquely positioned our business to be able to operate from any of our locations and adapt to nearly any circumstance. We were firm in our resolve to get as many people into the salon as we could. We have a responsibility to our clients to keep our commitments to them, and we did that to the best of our ability." ■ Jody Ellis-Knapp is a freelance writer based in Alaska. She has co-authored an Alaskan cookbook titled "What's Cooking, Alaska?"