I spoke with Jim Hennessy, owner of two Heritage stores in Ocean City, New Jersey last night after he had gotten into his 8,000-square-foot store to assess the damage.
“It’s pretty terrible,” Jim said. “There was 5 feet of water in store during the storm. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”
The island was still closed last night but Jim had talked his way past the state police blocking the road.
The staff had moved the inventory up four feet off the ground before the storm hit, but the water came in higher than that and upended everything. Merchandise, mud, sludge and debris are strewn all over the store, and the smell from the water damage is putrid, Jim said.
“The air in there is disgusting,” he said. “It’s not even healthy to breathe.”
His plan was to get in the store first thing this morning and begin moving out the ruined inventory, and also get out any good inventory and put that in a safe and dry location before mold develops. Then they need to dry out the floors and walls, and clean everything up. There’s no power yet, so he planned to bring generators to power the equipment.
“It was real heartbreaking what I saw,” he said. “You work your whole life to build a nice, beautiful store… I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Jim estimates 70% of the inventory was damaged, and all the electronic equipment – computers, cash registers – were destroyed.
He is very concerned, however, with making the store safe for his staff and customers.
“We have to kill the mold,” he said.
One bright spot is Jim’s smaller store on the boardwalk was relatively unscathed.
I asked Jim what kind of help he needs from the industry. He said he’ll probably need help cleaning up and restocking the store. He said he’d heard from a few of the larger brands offering to help in any way they can, and had just gotten off the phone with Bob Hurley.
“It’s going to take a lot of manpower, and we will accept the help,” Jim said. “We have strong alliances with great companies and they are staying in touch. Not a bunch, but some of the major players.”
Jim, who stressed that Heritage has been around for 50 years and will survive this challenge, wants to be up and running again as soon as possible. He’s planning to use iPads to ring up sales in a few days, and wants to be as back to normal as possible for the coming season.
“Holiday and Christmas is a major business for us,” he said. “We can’t miss that.”
