Lights Go Out, and On, in Florida
by Bob Summer, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 11/1/2005
Although Southern Book Service and Books & Books in Miami escaped any structural damages from Hurricane Wilma, both were crippled last week by the massive electrical failures and severe gas shortages in south Florida that resulted from last Monday's storm.
Nonetheless Southern Book Service, a 30 year-old wholesaler located near the Opa Locka airport, resumed operations Thursday morning after buying two generators and finding enough gas to power them, while Books & Books had reopened its stores in Coral Gables, Bal Harbour, Miami Beach, and Delray Beach by Friday. "Florida Power and Light made it a priority to restore power to the city's main business districts as soon as possible after the hurricane," store owner Mitchell Kaplan said. "Each location was without power and phones for much of the week, however, and we had to cancel our events for two weeks due to the power and gas situation throughout the area. But that situation seems to be improving daily, and we hope to reschedule each of the canceled events."
Across town, marketing manager and buyer Barbara Franzen said that with the aid of the generators SBS was able to ship all orders. "It was a crazy week, but everyone pitched in to answer phones, process orders, and get them shipped." Franzen said that despite the problems caused by the storm, October's sales were "surprisingly good." Things should get easier for SBS since the power was restored yesterday afternoon.|
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