The first customers Michael Guarino saw after superstorm Sandy asked to cancel orders for furniture no longer needed in their damaged homes, threatening the survival of a business his family opened three generations ago.
Then came a different set of clients. Two weeks after Sandy made landfall Oct. 29, Guarino, owner of Michael’s Furniture in Brick, New Jersey, began what’s turned into more than a month of 80-hour work weeks to serve residents re-stocking their houses.