Target unable to keep up with pre-hurricane demand for supplies...

According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Target officials anticipated that Hurricane Sandy was moving up the East Coast and stocked its stores accordingly. But the retailer still couldn't keep up with demand for supplies ahead of the storm.

Target and many other retailers spent days stocking their stores with batteries, flashlights, bottled water and other essentials, but it wasn't enough. "We did our best to plan ahead, but demand just exceeded the pace of replenishment in some areas,” Target spokeswoman Jessica Deede said.

Now that the storm has moved on and cleanup has begun, Target is focused on reopening stores. Target is monitoring road conditions and working with distribution centers and vendors to ensure products can get to the stores when they reopen. By yesterday, the company had reopened about 180 stores on the East Coast, and only three were still closed, including one in the Bronx, N.Y. and two in New Jersey.