Hurricane Gustav continues to develop into a monster storm in the Gulf of Mexico. With the tragic lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, residents and retailers alike are taking a more proactive approach to the arrival of this hurricane.
Yesterday, I talked about how well Home Depot was using their Twitter account to communicate hurricane tips and store information. Taking a look at the Home Depot Twitter, it appears that they have a dozen stores staying open all night in the Gulf Coast area. They’ve also brought in out of town volunteers to work the stores, allowing the local employees to secure their homes and evacuate. In addition to providing valuable information online, they’re also bringing supplies to the communities in need and staying open to allow people the time to get what they need. Home Depot also offers a section on their website with a wealth of information related to hurricane preparation.
The Wall Street Journal profiled the Walmart emergency operations center in Bentonville. Within the operations center, the retailer monitors the storm, communicates with the stores in the path of the storm, and plans on how to bring needed supplies, merchandise, and resources to the affected region. Walmart rapidly deployed resources to the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and can serve as a model for retailer involvement in disaster relief.
Winn-Dixie has a list of their store closings on their website. Nola.com has several photos showing a very empty Winn-Dixie in New Orleans.
Publix is the sponsor of a website called Hurricane Gustav Resources. This website seems to be a great resource of shelters that are open and evacuation information.
Obvious business motives aside, it is great to see these businesses working so hard to assist their communities. If you know of other retailers working to assist the Gulf Coast, please let me know in the comments.
Photo from Flickr user Maitri, used under Creative Commons.