As power outages from Saturday night’s ice storm dragged into Sunday afternoon, crowds descended on Canadian Tire looking for generators. Some were disappointed — at first.

The store at Leslie St. and Lake Shore Blvd. E. managed to find 55 at a Brampton warehouse and arrange a special delivery to the store, where customers bought them up before they even arrived.

But by closing time at 7 p.m. Sunday, the generators still hadn’t showed up and about 50 people were still waiting.

The store stayed open until about 7:30 p.m., said Canadian Tire spokesperson Sarah Van Lange.

Then it closed up — and took the waiting customers out for dinner.

“We let the customers wait in the store for a certain period of time, and then we made a decision to make it a little more comfortable for them,” said general manager Brian Rattray.

About 50 people crossed the parking lot to Boston Pizza, on Leslie St. in the same complex, where Canadian Tire treated them to food and non-alcoholic drinks while they waited.

The generator delivery arrived at about 11 p.m.

“The team at the Canadian Tire store at Lakeshore and Leslie went far above expectations to help folks out after the storm, staying until after midnight to make sure that those of us lucky enough to have purchased generators that day actually got them,” said Wendy Breau, who took a generator home around midnight.

“I made sure to tell the manager (Monday) how impressed we were — that was great customer service!”

Demand for generators was high and growing on Monday, Rattray said, as Toronto Hydro was warning that some of the 200,000 homes still without electricity might remain in the dark until the weekend. Temperatures are expected to fall to -15 C in coming days.

“It’s really nice that, not only were we able to get the generators, but at the same time, staff were more than willing to wait to help unload the truck and to help the customers,” said Rattray.

“The whole thing was a very feel-good situation.”

“Customers grabbed their generators and they were on their way,” said Rattray. “The people that stayed and waited, I think they were the most needy for the generators. The majority of them are using it to run portable heaters (or) to be able to cook something. It’s almost a necessity, rather than a convenience.”

More at thestar.com

Answers to six storm-related questions

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Reconnecting Toronto homes costs $1 million a day

In an icy crisis, our warmest hearts emerge: HumeE ND

Read more about: