As Hurricane Sandy moves on and New Yorkers are left to clean up the city, the full extent of the damage is becoming increasingly clear. One particularly hard hit area, at least fiscally, was retail, both in the city and beyond as stores were forced to close their doors to brace for the storm. And now reports of looting are starting to surface.

Retail (and life in general) is starting (trying?) to get back to normal after Sandy. Barneys opened yesterday and today, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Saks and Macy's opened their doors along with plenty of other stores in areas with power. And we've been happy to see that many of our favorite retailers are showing a compassionate side, while obviously also trying to generate much needed sales.

Sandy wreaked total havoc on a lot of our favorite downtown boutiques. We got in touch with many of them to see how they're faring in the huricane's aftermath. Here's what they've done to help themselves and others in the community get back on their feet--find out how you can help bring downtown NYC back!

The lines between e-commerce and brick and mortar retail are blurring and retailers are spending a LOT of money to streamline them.