Power Outage Strikes Shopping Center

The Giant, Target and AC Moore stores in Limerick were among the businesses affected by a multi-hour power outage that occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Monday.

According to PECO, a tree fell on a wire at the aforementioned time and caused power to go out in all three stores. Other stores in the shopping center were not confirmed as affected by the outage.

Giant Spokesperson and Manager of Public and Community Relations Chris Brand said that the outage was all cleared up by 5:45 p.m. He said the company’s strict protocol helped ensure customer safety and the prevention of shrink, or spoiled food.

“The first thing we do is we ensure the safety of all the customers throughout the building and all of the associates,” Brand said. “We order dry ice, which arrived at the store [on time]. We’re not always sure when these things are going to correct themselves.”

The backup power used in the store helped keep it operating with fully working registers and lights. However, frozen foods and perishable departments were shut down so that foods could be pulled to places that would hold proper temperatures, like cold trucks.

Deli items, hot bar items, seafood and rotisserie chicken were among the items lost due to the occurrence. They were all thrown away for quality assurance purposes.

“It wasn’t that long of a power outage,” Brand said. “We’ve certainly had longer than four hours, but we reacted quickly to save as much food as possible.”

PECO representative Fred Maher said about 3,000 customers were inconvenienced at the Giant until about 6:30 p.m. The situation was completely mended by 7:30 p.m.

“We’re glad that everybody is safe and that it was only four hours long,” said Brand.