UPPER EAST SIDE — As city officials warned New Yorkers to prepare themselves for Winter Storm Nemo's predicted heavy snowfalls, those who live and work on the Upper East Side were unfazed by the storm Friday afternoon.
"What blizzard?" Syed Quadn, 37, who works at a newspaper stand next to the 86th Street and Lexington Avenue subway station, said when asked about the storm.
Quadn said the number of transactions had yet to take any hit, and added, if anything, the snow day was sending him even more customers.
People who didn't have to go to work were still stopping by for candy, gum, and periodicals, and stocked up on supplies for an unexpected trip to Central Park, he said.
"Business, it's good," he said.
Cecilia Boyero, a tourist from Argentina visit the Park, said in Spanish that she and her family were having a blast in the snow.
The weather was making the city even more romantic, she said.
"I love it because we don't have snow in Buenos Aires" said Boyero, who was snapping photos near the Park's Reservoir. "It's more picturesque, like in a movie."
Her daughter, 8-year-old Magdalena, couldn't agree more.
"I've never seen snow before," she said. "I'm going to make a snowman!"
Juan Polanco, a long-time neighborhood dogwalker, said that he had been prepared for the worst — taking out fewer pooches and making less money, if inclement conditions worsened significantly.
But so far, he had lucked out and was exercising the same number of pups, he said.
"Today's not so bad because it's not snowing that much," he said. "It's not sticking."
Michael Stacy, a New Hampshire native who has lived on the Upper East Side for some 20 years, scoffed at weatherly worry, saying he grew up with "real snow."
"The only way it's affecting me is because there are longer lines at the grocery," said Stacy.
"People are acting like it's Hurricane Sandy, but it's only a little snow."
