California stores face reality of power outages

SONOMA, Calif. — Retailers and other businesses, from hardware chains to coffee shops, are dealing with a new economic reality of electrical outages in Northern California.

Many struggled to keep their businesses open on the second day after the nation’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, cut off power to more than a million people to mitigate the risk of wildfires as heavy winds sweep through.

Home improvement chains Lowe’s and Home Depot said their stores have been busy with people seeking generators, batteries and flashlights. Both companies said their stores are open and that they are working to bring more emergency supplies to the affected areas. But for many mom-and-pop outlets, it was even more of a struggle as they can’t rely on sophisticated distribution centers to keep restocking shelves.

Workers at both small businesses and big chains turned to creative ways to serve customers either in the dark or with limited power from generators. They tabulated sales on a piece of paper. They brought flashlights to work, and guided customers to dark areas of the store to help them find batteries and other emergency supplies.

Friedman’s Home Improvement store in Sonoma, Calif., lost power Wednesday, but remained open with a limited amount of electricity from generators. Employees with flashlights and head lamps took customers into the darkened store to buy batteries, power cords, flashlights and other items. Barry Friedman, whose family owns four Friedman’s stores, said local schools are closed, so many employees have child-care issues.

“Making sure we’re there for our community and making sure we’re there for our team members is really complex for a business owner right now,” Friedman said. “We’re working on getting products here as quickly as possible to serve the community. So a lot of complexities with this power shutdown.”

Sonoma resident Judy Fontana, who works at a catering company, was one of many residents working on laptops and charging their devices at an auditorium at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Hall. She said her home and office don’t have electricity or internet connectivity.

“Wind is going to happen, and now we’re going to have days and days with inconvenience and this is not sustainable,” Fontana said. “We’re all losing money.”