For many, a drop in business
  
Local business owners faced an expected dip in business during the storm. Frank Borrelli, the owner of Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant, said that the first week of the new year is typically slow, but the storm made it even slower. “The threat of a storm affects the restaurant business,” he said. “Everyone gears up for it, so they all go food shopping.”
   
Borrelli estimated that business was down about 50 percent, but said he saw an increase in takeout orders. “It’s something you can’t really help,” he said. “It’s out of our control.”
   
Empress Diner owner Mike Panagatos said that while his restaurant was open throughout the storm, there were few customers. “Unfortunately, we lost a tremendous amount of business that you’re not going to get back,” he said. “But we always try to pride ourselves in being open.”
   
Panagatos added that he typically orders extra food supplies ahead of a storm in expectation of failed deliveries. And by Friday night and Saturday morning, he said, things were mostly back to normal. “[People] get a little cabin fever, and they all come out,” he said.

Scenes around East Meadow

The Herald took a trip around East Meadow after the snow stopped, to see how residents were coping. Local streets were lined with people wielding shovels and pushing snow blowers. But after driveways and sidewalks were cleared, they made sure to have a little fun, too.
   
Joe Polansky was finishing clearing the sidewalk of his Luddington Road home while his daughter, Sara, and her friend Hannah Arbuse, both 13, sledded in the front yard. Polansky said he had prepared for the storm by stocking up on gasoline for his snow blower, water, rock salt and windshield washer fluid. His plans after shoveling, he said, were to “Go inside, make a fire, and sleep next to the fire.”
   
Ajay Patel, of Lincoln Street, was shoveling his front yard with his cousin Dave Patel and his sister, Nilam. Dave, who’s from Georgia, said he was initially excited about shoveling snow, something he’s not accustomed to down South. “I came out here for five minutes and then said, ‘This isn’t for me,’” he laughed. “But it’s fun doing it with your cousins.”