Michele Kraus of Gamer's Conclave in Mandeville, Louisiana has been following the news on Hurricane Katrina and the industry response (see 'Gulf Coast Retailers in Dire Straits'), and shares her situation:

 

We're planning to reopen our store in Mandeville, once the electricity and utilities are restored. But a big worry for us is -- will our customers still be there?  So many of them were employed by companies in New Orleans, and we don't know what their situations will be.  And will those that don't transfer be ready to spend what little disposable income they have with us?  What do we need to survive?  We'll need to do the same things that we've always done, just to a greater degree.  We'll need help advertising to remind people that we're still here, that entertainment is a part of helping the recovery process along.  We'll need help with our bills.  We'll need access to new releases that we've missed while being closed.  If you can get demo teams to us, we'll need them.  Yes, we'll need special treatment.  We can't even receive shipments right now -- the UPS and FedEx facilities in New Orleans and Covington are inoperable.  We don't know when they'll be back or when rerouting will be done.

 

No matter how strong we are when we reopen the doors, we just don't know if our customers will still be there, and that's the scariest unknown.

 

I have been reading about the generosity of industry professionals in the wake of this disaster, and I want to say thank you to everyone who has donated to the various charities, who has donated or delivered comics and toys to the shelters, who has given time to serve food.  We were very fortunate to have family to evacuate to, and our personal losses were minimal.  But some close to us have lost everything except the clothes they escaped with.  Thank you so very much for everything you all have done.