Sayville Hardware Retailer Feels Brunt of Approaching Hurricane

Customers were lined up at the door Friday morning when opened at 8 a.m. and residents are clearing the shelves of emergency response essentials as fast as the Foster Avenue store can restock.

The impending arrival of Hurricane sometime this weekend has local residents in a frenzy for supplies, according to store employees.

“We had a delivery yesterday of emergency inventory yesterday and were sold out in a half hour,” an employee related to Patch in a phone interview Friday morning as she multitasked handling store sales.

“It’s been crazy. We have another shipment coming into today and we’re just restocking continuously,” she said.

The big sellers are flashlights, lighbulbs, propane gas and tanks. The store, which also operates a location in Blue Point which is experiencing a similar retail experience, stayed open an hour later than usual Thursday night to make sure it could handle the next few days of consumer demand.

“It’s a bit scary to see how people are reacting to this [the storm] and the magnitude of the supply demand,” the employee said.

Right now store management hasn’t extended normal operating hours but that might change.

“We’re going to do whatever we can to help the community,” the employee said.