As Superstorm Sandy blew its devastating winds through much of the Eastern U.S. starting on Halloween, retailers had to deal with it just like everyone else. But few seemed to have anticipated the more than eight days - and more, in some cases - of outages, along with the gas shortages, closed roads, lack of food and water, plus the dead phone lines, lack of internet broadband access and dead cell towers.

The economic effects of Hurricane Sandy are reverberating beyond areas hit by the storm as businesses warn customers of delays, try to get merchandise out of closed ports and face canceled orders.