Monster Storm Disrupts Business at Tens of Thousands of Stores

Tens of thousands of stores and restaurants, from Walmart to Waffle House, closed earlier than usual over the weekend due to Winter Storm Fern, though some were already reopening on Monday.

The impact on the retail industry won’t be catastrophic since last weekend was not a major selling period, with Valentine’s Day still three weeks away. Also, many shoppers would have stayed home anyway to watch the National Football League playoffs Sunday.

Still, there will be significant losses on non-essentials like luxury goods, sportswear, home products, beauty, and from a lack of dining out. Mass merchants, department and convenience stores would make up some of the shortfall, with consumers stocking up ahead of the storm on essentials like food, water and batteries, along with melting salt, shovels, coats and winter accessories. Grocery stores experienced some empty shelves last week due to “panic shopping” by many consumers. And there were reports that retailers were jacking up prices ahead of the storm, on boots, sidewalk salt and space heaters, among other items.

Stores will be able to make up some — but not all — of the lost business after this week. Their fourth-quarter financial reports, scheduled to be issued in February and March, retailers will cite the impact of the storm. Restaurants and entertainment venues such as movie theaters will have a particularly tough time making up what was lost. In addition, sales of non-essentials going forward will suffer as Americans notice more expensive heating bills due to January’s frigid temperatures.

The impact of Winter Storm Fern was most severe on transportation, with airlines cancelling thousands of flights across the U.S., snow and ice stranding vehicles on city streets and highways, and massive delays in deliveries. Also, power outages hit about one million households. The storm starting Friday swept through the South, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, and was in the Atlantic Ocean by Monday. Fern covered a large swath of the U.S., hitting at least 200 million people.

As of around 2 p.m. on Monday, 54 Walmart Inc. stores remained closed. Walmart has a link on its website providing regular updates on store closings.

“During severe winter weather, our focus is on helping ensure customers and communities have access to essential items they need to stay safe, such as blankets, batteries, and other cold-weather necessities,” Walmart said in a statement Monday. “We work closely with our associates, local officials, and community partners to prepare for increased needs during these events.”

Earlier, Walmart indicated on its website: “Our store teams are working hard to keep shelves stocked for customers when it’s safe to do so, but we know the need for support extends beyond our aisles. The Walmart Foundation is making an initial donation of  $500,000 to the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army to support immediate disaster response in areas already feeling the effects of the winter weather.

“We’re also continuing to work closely with local officials and community partners to ensure assistance reaches the areas where it’s needed most. These efforts include Walmart providing gift cards to help stock local warming centers with much-needed supplies and coordination with Convoy of Hope to provide essential products like blankets and shelf stable food.”

Target issued a statement Monday indicating that its stores are “stocked and well equipped to serve our guests in all weather conditions, and we work quickly to make sure that high-demand products are readily available.” The status of Target locations can be found at http://www.target.com/store-locator. A spokesman said that typically in severe snowstorms, sales of bread, meats and essentials such as batteries spike. Target operates nearly 2,000 stores.

The Vitamin Shoppe, which operates about 640 stores nationwide, reported, “The winter snowstorm adversely affected more than half of the store fleet, leading to delayed openings, early closures, and full‑day closures. Some stores that remained open still experienced challenges due to severe weather and freezing temperatures.”

“We did see a bit of a pull-forward of total sales in the affected states on Thursday and Friday, including a pickup in protein bars and the drinks categories,” said Dina Trama, The Vitamin Shoppe’s vice president of data science and analytics. “The largest uptick was in vitamins, which could be driven by current flu trends or a sign that consumers were being preventative before the storm.”

Macy’s Inc. told WWD that the majority of its stores impacted by the weekend snowstorm reopened Monday. “We continue to monitor conditions locally with the safety of our customers and colleagues as our top priority,” a spokesperson said.

Over the weekend, 14 full-line Bloomingdale’s stores and eight Bloomingdale’s outlets were closed on Sunday but all reopened Monday with modified operating hours. Macy’s closed 150 stores on Sunday, with additional locations experiencing early closures over the weekend. As of late Monday afternoon, seven of those 150 stores remained closed while the rest are experiencing delayed openings, the company indicated.

“To prioritize the safety of our employees and customers, we made the decision to close or delay the opening of a number of our stores across Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Off 5th due to the inclement weather,” a Saks Global spokesperson said Monday. “We look forward to serving our customers as our stores reopen, but safety remains our top priority and we encourage everyone to take extra care as conditions improve.”

JCPenney stated Monday: “Due to weather conditions over the weekend, several store locations experienced temporary closures and are reopening as conditions allow. We are prioritizing the safety of our associates and customers.”

Planalytics, a firm that helps retailers plan their inventories based on weather forecasting and climate changes, indicated that Fern’s “winter mindset” for consumers continues, particularly with daytime highs struggling to cross the freezing mark, and arctic temperatures sticking around through Sunday. More snowfall is expected that day. The severe weather will continue to drive sustained demand for consumables like ice melt, rock salt, and windshield fluid, Planalytics noted.

“Expect these to shift from ‘one-time prep’ items to frequent replenishment needs. In addition, demand will increase for need-based categories such as auto batteries, pipe wrap, and window insulation kits.”

Stores selling apparel do have something to look forward to. Planalytics said the prolonged cold is triggering “a second wind for sales of heavy outerwear, thermals, boots, and cold-weather accessories. Nesting categories like soups, hot beverages, and home heating supplies will also see increases, while early-spring transitions, such as patio furniture and lightweight apparel will see a significant chill,” Planalytics indicated.

Planalytics also reported that in regions hit by the storm, demand for heaters, blankets, ice melt, shovels, scrapers, boots, outerwear, gloves, hand warmers, and other need-based items were up 50 percent to 500 percent above normal at local levels, depending on the item.

Demand for emergency supplies such as flashlights, batteries, gasoline, power banks/generators, and canned foods rose 50 percent to 150 percent above normal at local levels. Demand for food/consumables including canned goods, milk, bread, eggs, salty snacks and pet food rose 10 percent to over 50 percent above normal at local levels.

According to the National Weather Service, the highest measured snowfall totals were across southern New England and parts of New York State. Middleton, Mass., saw 20.5 inches and Boston measured 16.7 inches.