THE downtown business community appeared unscathed from its close encounter with powerful Hurricane Dean on Sunday.

Stores had remained closed on Monday but a visit to the area Tuesday saw shoppers out, though not in their usual numbers, as some store operators used the best of the daylight available, while the more fortunate were powered by generators.

However, by yesterday it was business as usual in the business district.

On King Street, store manager for Khemlani Mart, Anin Poojary, said his business had taken no significant blow from the fierce wind and rain associated with Hurricane Dean which pounded the island for several hours on Sunday. He said the store had been unaffected but for some leakage.

“It set us back a little because we had to close business two days – Sunday and Monday,” Poojary told the Observer, adding that he was fortunate as there had been no looting.

Several doors up from Poojary, Owen Reynolds, general manager of Woolworth, was counting his blessings in the aftermath of the hurricane.

“We have weathered the storm well with God’s help. We are thankful in the aftermath,” he told the Observer.

One store worker in the Amart store, a stone’s throw from Woolworth, said they were also untouched by the hurricane.

Timothy Spencer, director of Joseph’s, had a similar story.

“We weren’t affected badly at all, God blessed us, we were lucky, Jamaica was lucky and aside from the powercuts I would encourage everyone to get back on with their lives and come and buy a lot of khaki,” he joked.

In the meantime, Spencer said there had been one unsuccessful attempt at looting.

“There was an attempt, we looked and we saw where they tried to get in but they didn’t,” he said.

One store worker told the Observer that there had been soldiers in the area over the weekend. She said, however, that with the State of Emergency being declared they had expected to see a heavier deployment.

Meanwhile, the Kingston Bookshop, also located on King Street, said it had sustained no damage and had only minimal leaks. Store manager Paula Plummer said she was not aware of any damage to any of the seven stores in the chain. Several shoppers were seen poring over book lists in the dimly-lit facility on Tuesday.

At the Pearnel Charles Arcade, vendors were in high spirits as the facility had also weathered the storm well.

“We had very good security, so it’s just the little leaking. Wi just have to give God thanks right now,” Lavern ‘Money 0’ Rawlings told the Observer.

“There were no damage, no breaking and entering. Nothing. The thing is the building is good you know it’s just the little fires sometime that would affect us,” her colleague ‘Puncy’ added.

District Constable M Innis from the Kingston Central Police said no reports of robberies or looting had been received during the period.

“This time we were lucky. We did some things right, we did not have the types of incidents we had the last time (Hurricane Ivan 2004).

“We had no incidents, we were able to keep a lid on things and keep downtown safe,” he told the Observer.