Blackout: Grim business of recovery goes on

With power completely restored to western Queens and temperatures returning to normal summer-levels, businesses affected by the ten-day outage are slowly starting to put the pieces back together trying to make up for more than a week's worth of lost revenues.
However, many business owners said this would be a daunting challenge.
Three weeks after the blackout, a sticky stench lingered in the Cold Stone Creamery on 31st Street in Astoria because co-owners Franco Treglia, 38, and Michael DiStefano, 38, refused to clean up before their insurance company made assessments of their losses.
DiStefano opened the store for a quick tour of the two large empty freezers, while Treglia met with representatives from the city's Small Businesses Association to find out if the shop was eligible for interest-free loans.
&#8220The problem is that [the loans] don't replace lost sales,” DiStefano said. &#8220That just punishes us with more debt.”
Since opening the business less than a year ago, the owners said that they poured $400,000 into the ice cream shop. In order to reopen, they would need another $15,000 to restock, but they also need to come up with $45,000 to replace a freezer and an air-conditioning unit as well as $1,000 to train new workers.
&#8220We lost most of the 25 person staff, including three managers,” DiStefano said.
Meanwhile, Con Edison officials continue to hold firm to the $7,000 maximum that they will reimburse businesses for the loss of perishable goods.
&#8220$7,000 is less than 10 percent of our loss,” said Charlie Marino, owner of Marino & Sons Fish market, which has been serving the Astoria community for more than 80 years, and currently supplies a number of restaurants in the area with their orders.
In addition to the perishable food loss, Marino said he lost money in equipment and salaries he paid to his employees.
Philippe Flory, who owns Ste. Honore Patisserie on Ditmars Boulevard, said he already received the $7,000 check from Con Ed, but he lost more than $24,000 in business during the outage. In addition to the check, Flory received his July Con Ed bill in the mail on Friday, August 4 totaling nearly $3,200, only $100 less than his June bill even though he was without power for six days.
&#8220As small guys, we just have to get back on our feet and go on,” Flory said.
For businesses like Top Tomato grocery store on Ditmars Boulevard, manager Mike Mignone said he has not even been able to calculate the store's losses yet.
&#8220I had to order stuff everyday, and a lot of the stuff that came in we had to throw away.”