Fifth Avenue Had More Shoppers Than Open Stores Today

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• Fifth Avenue between 48th and 49th didn't look too different from any other day.
• It may have helped that some of the stores were open, although who is buying sunglasses in this weather?
• Ted Baker, down the block, was closed.
• H&M: Totally empty.
• Uniqlo's famous escalators were turned off for the day.
• There was no line in front of Hollister.
• But there were a bunch of sandbags.
• Zara was eerily quiet.
• Free People and its Rockefeller Center ilk were all still closed.
• And Saks Fifth Avenue was still boarded up.

Racked graphics intern Leyla Novini surveyed Fifth Avenue this afternoon to see which stores were open. The short answer: Not many. Nearly every retail space was shuttered; Hollister even lost its infamous line. The one exception was the stretch of Fifth between 48th and 49th Street, where Sunglass Hut, Aldo, Benetton, and Sephora were all open for business. Despite the closings—and the storm damage, and the lack of public transportation, and today's general unusualness—the avenue was still fairly crowded. Check out the scene in the photos above.
· A Sandbagged Apple Store and More Post-Sandy Photos [Racked NY]