Photo: Erica Weiner

Social Media Savvy
A few boutiques used social media to stay in touch with customers and find ways to help.

Kathy Kemp, owner of beloved east village boutique Anna, lives near her store and was able to reopen for the weekend. “I was kind of testing the temperature on Facebook,” where she said a lot of her die-hard fans were checking to see whether or not they were open. “I feel like people were really sensitive about the storm, but it’s so easy for people to donate things, so [I thought,] why don’t I keep going and see what I can do myself.” She feels like things are now starting to “normalize.”

Wendy Kangas, co-owner of East Village boutique Duo posted a lot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and actually had a “pretty busy weekend” post-Sandy. The Lower East Side’s Maryam Nassir Zadeh also used Facebook to let customers know that they’d fill online orders as soon as possible, and to promote a hurricane sale.

Speaking of which, a lot of them are having sales.