Northeast Auto Glass Shops React to Surprising October Snowstorm
October 31, 2011

by Penny Stacey

The Northeastern region of the United States received a major, rare October snowstorm over the weekend that left some towns covered by up to two feet of snow and stunned auto glass businesses as well.

"We're not able to get around at all, with the trees that are down everywhere," said Vincent Mirabilio, owner of Town and Country Glass LLC in Woodbury, Conn. "I'm only here at the store because we don't have power at my house."

Officials at JN Phillips Auto Glass in Woburn, Mass., said they experienced some outages, but are hopefully through the worst of it.

"Several of our stores in Central and Western Massachusetts and Connecticut experienced power and utility interruptions, but those seem to have been rectified this point and we are at full steam ahead in our service operations," says Bob Rosenfield, president of JN Phillips Auto Glass in Woburn, Mass. "That said, it has been a significant storm event, and many citizens are still without power, gasoline for cars, or live on streets that may be impassable - blocked by fallen trees or downed power lines. We are concerned for our fellow New Englanders, and are working to be as helpful as we can."

Julius Perino, general manager of Waterbury Glass in Waterbury, Conn., spoke with glassBYTEs.com™/AGRR™ magazine but only briefly—as his shop's phones were down and he was only able to communicate by cell phone.

"I'm not able to get glass, and my phone is down," said Perino.

Al Yessiller, owner of Alliance Auto Glass in Centereach, N.Y., has seen both good and bad results from the storm.

"Our power was out, but we just got it back," said Yesiller early this afternoon.

However, as snowstorms often do, the October "Nor'easter" has already created a boom for Alliance. "Business-wise we're backed up to the end of this week," added Yesiller. "We were kind of slow for the last three months, but this really brought us back."

Rosenfield agreed. "We have seen a substantial increase in calls and service activity subsequent to this weekend's storm," he said.

How did you fare in the storm? Have you seen impacts—good or bad? Please email pstacey@glass.com.

This story is an original story by AGRR™ magazine/glassBYTEs.com™. Subscribe to AGRR™ Magazine.
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