As Dorian swirled, some businesses stood to benefit from locals’ priorities. Think: drink

Labor Day Weekend is usually the start of the busy season for Miami Beach landmark eatery La Sandwicherie.

Thanks to Hurricane Dorian, opening season was officially delayed.

“People got scared,” said Patrick, the manager there. He declined to give his last name.

Instead, it seems, those who were left on the beach were drowning woes, boredom — anything but drying out — across the street.

There, at Mac’s Club Deuce, the stalwart beach watering hole, weekend business was brisk.

Surprisingly so, said bartender Ash Swanson, given “that there was a 200-mile-per-hour hurricane a few miles away.”

“You had evacuees from the Keys,” he said. “Then you had the cruise people who were stranded. You had guys from restaurants who shut down because no one was eating. And then you had tourists who couldn’t go anywhere else because everything was closed.”

As Dorian swirled dangerously close to the mainland, Miamians stocked up on everything they could. That meant booze.

“We definitely saw an uptick,” said Eddy de La Maza of Big Game liquors on Le Jeune Road. As usual, he said, vodkas were the best-sellers — but given the urgency of the situation “everything on the shelves” was going, he said.

Bars and liquor purveyors weren’t the only businesses that stood to benefit.

In the wake of 2017’s Hurricane Irma, Publix reported a $250 million sales boost from shoppers across the southeast. A Publix representative did not immediately respond for comment.

Lumber sales also got a boost — though Miami-area residents seemed somewhat more relaxed about Dorian, compared with recent megastorms, according to Lukas Georgatos, manager of Shell Lumber and Hardware on Southwest 27th Ave. He said sales were a bit slower this time around than in the run-up to Irma , which brought lines stretching around the block.

By Friday, he said, it was clear that there would be “nowhere near” the surge in sales of Irma.

Visit Florida did not have immediate data showing Dorian’s impact on hotel occupancy. The agency said last year that Irma had missed out on 1.8 million visitors and $1.5 billion in visitor spending.

Though Dorian skirted Miami, the economic impact further north will likely be more severe. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport remained shuttered through noon Tuesday; Palm Beach International Airport will resume operations Wednesday. Ports in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties were closed to cruise ship and commercial traffic from Sunday to Tuesday.

By Tuesday, there were signs local life in Dade was returning to normal. The city of Miami allowed dockless scooters, which they’d ordered removed in the run-up to the storm, back onto downtown streets. Concern among area leaders switched to gathering aid for victims in the Bahamas.

But locals can still expect to see some disruptions. An Amazon representative said Tuesday area distribution facilities had been shuttered ahead of the storm and were still getting back up to gear; customers should expect some delays. An email from FedEx said the same.

Thirsty residents know where to go while they wait.