Other communities' pain is North Reading businesses' pleasure as people from towns without power from last weekend's snowstorm have flooded over the borders, which has helped the local economy.

Large portions of surrounding towns like Andover, North Andover and Wilmington haven't had power and their residents are turning to North Reading’s restaurants and stores to eat and shop.

Great American Tavern customers normally wait about 15 to 20 minutes on a Sunday night. Last Sunday, customers waited 90 minutes for a table. The tavern opened their back room every day so far this week to accommodate as many people as possible.

Manager Renee Bianchi said, “The power outage has continued to provide us with a nice boost in business.”

Bianchi also mentioned that they had a number of electrical workers stop in for lunch on Wednesday.

Kitty’s had an increase in business on Sunday and Monday.

Manager Scott White said, “Yes, it was much busier than normal those two days. There was a lot of out of town people, too.”

Heav'nly Donuts had its busiest day yet on Sunday. The donut shop also gained some new customers. 

Owner Mark Lee said, "The three days following the storm were very busy. In particular, the Sunday morning after the storm, was one of my most profitable days to date. The power outages didnt allow people to make their coffee and/or breakfast at home, so fortunately for me, they were nice enough to come in and let Heav'nly do it for them. Also, it seems that we were able to get some new people in to give us a try and I have noticed many of them are still coming in even though they have power again."

Even stores have noticed an increase in business. New To You Consignment on Main Street has been busier over the last several days.

“I’ve been picking up and I’m really excited,” said Owner Cindy Branga.

Reading Lumber on Main Street has also had more customers due to the storm.

“Oh yeah, definitely. Even a few days before, during and of course after,” said Floor Manager Jay Crowley.