INWOOD — With just hours to go before Winter Storm Nemo blankets New York City with snow, uptown grocery stores found themselves packed with anxious shoppers.
Bread shelves were bare at an Inwood Fine Fare on Broadway and mid-morning crowds packed a C-Town on 207th Street as residents tried to stock up on goods before the storm hit.
"We weren't ready for Sandy, so I'm taking pre-emptive measures," said Vanessa Martir as she left the C-Town with a cart-full of groceries. Martir, who said she expected the storm to be bad, added that she had further stocked up her home.
"I have candles and stuff like that at home. We've got flashlights and water in bottles."
Mayor Bloomberg has issued a weather emergency for Nemo, which could drop up to 14 inches of snow on Friday night through Saturday morning, and snow plows could already been seen making their way around Inwood.
Store workers said that all of the media reports were making customers wary of the storm.
"People get nervous," said C-Town employee Sal Husain. "Every time snow comes, people get nervous."
Husain, who said the store would stay open until its usual 10:00 p.m. closing time, said that he expected more crowds as the day went on, but added that he wasn't panicking.
"I'm not worried about the snow. I've been dealing with snow for the past 40 years. I've seen worse. This is nothing."
Dollar Tower on 207th Street also was planning on closing at its normal 8:30 p.m. closing time, but manager Mubin Abdul added that he wasn't sure how he would handle Saturday.
"I don't know about tomorrow. I don't know what should we do; should we open or close? We didn't plan for tomorrow."
