Businesses weigh decisions to stay open or close ahead of Irma

Many retailers hang tough and stay open, some banks close.

From closing down to closing early to hanging tough all day, Atlanta businesses had a range of responses to the arrival of Tropical Storm Irma.

Among those open for business was Atlanta-based Home Depot. Both corporate and retail operations of the home improvement giant, which records $95 billion a year in sales, were up and running.

Also open were grocery chains Kroger and Publix and other retail outlets. So long as they had electricity, many stayed open in metro Atlanta and most of Georgia.

At least some Costco warehouse stores were likewise open.

On the other hand, some of the largest banks in the region were shuttered for the storm.

SunTrust and Wells Fargo, the two largest banks in metro Atlanta by deposits, closed all of their branches in Georgia Monday.

The SunTrust Foundation said Monday it would commit a total of $500,000 to various disaster relief and recovery efforts in support of communities hit by Hurricane Irma. Other companies were also pledging contributions. Bank of America announced via its website that some branches affected by Irma will be closed.

Meanwhile, most government offices, as well as schools, were closed. Also shut down were the MARTA and GRTA transit services.

Many companies gave employees the option of working from home.

Adam Polak, spokesman for Allstate, said the company’s office of more than 100 employees is open, but only sparsely populated.

“Most of us can work remotely,” he said.

The storm will weaken today, with less wind and rain hitting Atlanta, according to WSB Channel 2 meteorologists. Allstate is playing it by ear, Polak said. “We are not planning on being closed. But if we wake up and it’s not safe, we’ll make the call.”

In areas of Florida and south Georgia where the Home Depot stores did close, many had reopened Monday afternoon. In the Florida Keys, where some of the employees evacuated, it likely will take longer.

“We just don’t know about the stores on the Keys yet,” said Stephen Holmes, company director of communications. “We don’t know.”

But, he said, “We are opening stores as fast as we can.”