Dorian a blow or boon for business?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The slow and menacing approach of Hurricane Dorian left local small business owners with an agonizing choice.

With a Category 5 storm tens of miles to the east, shutting down and shuttering up their businesses during the long Labor Day weekend seemed like the right thing to do. But the forecasters were predicting a turn, a turn that would spare us of hurricane-force winds.

To stay open or to close? To play it safe or to trust the science? To take cover or to take reservations?

Hundreds of thousands of people from Hilton Head to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, were told Sunday they needed to pack up and evacuate by noon on Labor Day, which normally would have been their last day of the long weekend at the ocean. And in touristheavy Savannah, Georgia, it was anything but a normal holiday, being in the cone of uncertainty for days.

Dorian c a used perhaps the most mainland damage in North Carolina, where it spawned several tornadoes. But the late arrival of Dorian on Thursday meant many hotels and beach businesses enjoyed a relatively normal Labor Day.

Southern Florida wasn't so lucky. Wednesday was the first day of business after days of storm closings. For others, it was the end of a brisk few days of commerce.

“We made the decision to close on Friday morning,” said Krystal Campi, the general manager of the Fitness Hub Studios.

That meant canceling as many as 18 classes a day, boarding up, and putting sandbags in front of the front doors to hold off any possible storm surge.

The Top Star Hair Salon locked up after the last appointment on Saturday and didn't open until Wednesday morning.

“It's like losing a week,” the owner Taskin Ayaz said. “Customers started canceling their appointments on Thursday and Friday last week, and today I'm supposed to have 15 appointments, but I only have three.”

But Ayaz wasn't complaining. It could have been worse.

“Thank God, nothing happened,” he said.