NEW LONDON, Conn. — Businesses by the water are keeping a close eye on the forecast with fear they may suffer some damage.
Businesses like Fred's Shanty, College Pizza and Sellfish said they are not too worried about Hurricane Henri but thoughts of closing their doors have crossed their minds.
"I saw one time the storm hit my whole awning up and down," said Ozzi Ozkan, owner of College Pizza and Selfish.
Ozkan had scary memories of the last storm hitting New England where parts of his restaurant were badly damaged.
With this Sunday being a hurricane, he said he might consider taking a day off.
"This Sunday’s storm is going to hit us very bad and basically we’re going to turn off all the umbrellas, tie up the awning and maybe we close Sunday," added Ozkan.
Customers soaked up the sunshine and delicious food before the businesses closed for the remainder of the weekend.
Many of them told FOX61 they are also taking precautions at their own homes.
"Well, you know, I grew up in Connecticut, so we get this every once in a while, and I think if you just take an ounce of precaution, don’t be stupid when you see a power line, don’t go near it, we’ve seen this a lot," said Gary Johnson of Essex.
Right next door to Ozkan's pizza and seafood restaurant is Fred's Shanty where long lines formed. Customers wanted their last fill of ice cream and fries before having to hide indoors for the storm.
Owner John Hefferman also is thinking of taking a break Sunday.
"We’ll see if we even open on Sunday because being right on the water here, it’s going to be pretty tough," said Hefferman, owner of Fred's Shanty.
His business relies heavily on summer customers, so he said, this storm is going to negatively impact him.
"Yeah, it’s going to hurt us getting closer to the end of summer, end of august. Weekends are our busy time. Labor Day, right around the corner so every weekend is kind of precious moving forward so it’s going to hurt us this weekend," added Hefferman.
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