Business & Tech

Despite Outages Elsewhere in Port Jefferson, Downtown is Open For Business

One business owner says that reports have kept people away from downtown.

Steve Sands, owner Pasta Pasta, an Italian eatery on East Main Street in Port Jefferson says that despite the reports about power outages in the village, for the most part the downtown business area is up and running. Yet reports to the contrary are hurting business.

"All restaurants and stores are open," he said. "The news keeps saying that Port Jefferson has been waiting for power and still may take a while so it's keeping people from coming to town."

The library is open as well as the Village Center and both are offering people a place to come in, warm up, connect to WiFi and recharge electronic devices.

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Residents have been turning these places into makeshift living rooms during the outages. Resident and Patch blogger Robert Makofsky wrote in a recent post that the Village Center "has been a literal life saver for those of us without heat and electric. It is warm here and comfortable."

"Children can read here, do school work if they have it to do, and plug their electronic devices to play video games," he blogged. "Others conduct business from upstairs which looks out upon the harbor. We even have a CD player which plays Crosby, Stills, and Nash over and over again."

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Other businesses quickly dried out and were open again the weekend after Sandy hit. Lainie's Way spent days cleaning up after the storm, opening on Saturday in time for the important toy-shopping season. The Farmers Market also came back to the village on Sunday following the storm. Boardwalk Games told Patch via Twitter that they were also open for business as well.

Some businesses never lost power t all and were able to take advantage of their good fortune. The newly-opened retro-restaurant, Twilight Cafe was able to serve pancake breakfasts and a full lunch. They even filled in a much-needed niche in town while the Starbucks was closed, selling 50-cent cups of coffee.

Sands said he's aware that many residents are still suffering without power and that reports say that it could be a while before LIPA recconects electricity but the business district is open and ready to receive customers.

"I know that there are still some areas that are still waiting and hopefully they will be all on soon," Sands said.

Long Island Restaurant Week has also been extended until Nov. 18 because of the storm.


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