Irene Affects Local Business

It was business as usual at the in South Natick this morning and owner Stephen Cote was breathing a sigh of relief.

Like much of South Natick, part of which remains without electricity, the shop lost power around 11 a.m. on Sunday. The outage forced Cote to close the doors of his business and send his employees home.

Every hour during the early morning, Cote said he drove to his store from his home on Union Street to see if the power had returned. At 4 a.m., he spotted NSTAR trucks working to repair lines damaged by a fallen tree on his road, which is nearby the coffee house. Power was back on by 7 a.m., only a half an hour after the shop was normally scheduled to open.

Despite having no electricity for 20 hours, the food kept in the freezers; the temperature had only gone from 40 degrees to 45.

But the lost time yesterday did cost the business money it could have made had there been lights. Cote estimates he lost about $1,000 in business thanks to Irene.