Michaels Arts & Crafts Store was one of the merchants at Logan Towne Center that suffered a power outage on Wednesday afternoon. Mirror photo by Andrew Mollenauer

Stores at Logan Town Center were among those losing power for a time Wednesday as inclement weather struck the area.

Five Below Merchandising Manager Crystal Ross said the cause of the outage was possibly a transformer fire at Valley View Boulevard and 15th Street. Her store was forced to close for the time being because of the outage.

“We had to close because our registers are down,” Ross said. “All the power is out from GetGo all the way to Boscov’s.”

Alex Truong, whose parents own Envy Nails Spa, was playing with his little brother in the back of the store when the power went out.

“It went all the way from Panera to Mattress Warehouse,” Truong, 11, said. “Everything across the parking lot like Dick’s and Boscov’s lost power and closed, too.”

Michaels Manager Doug Sedlemeyer said his store lost power at 3:30 p.m., prompting him to close until further notice.

“I haven’t seen any utility crews or anything like that,” Sedlemeyer said. “Two fire trucks were in the Giant Eagle parking lot, though, but they quickly left.”

A Giant Eagle manager, who wouldn’t identify himself, declined to comment but said his store would continue to operate thanks to a generator.

A shopper at the grocery store, Leslie Conzo of Ashville, said she didn’t find out about the outage until she got there. Certain items, she said, like perishables and frozen foods were not available due to the outage.

“It’s not their fault,” Conzo said. “It just happened, but I’ll have to go somewhere else for milk, eggs and ice cream. You can’t control the weather.”

Across Osgood Drive, most stores appeared to have power, though it was dark inside Chipotle and signs on its doors indicated it was temporarily closed.

Manager Becky McClellan at Sweet Frog, one of the businesses with power, said Wednesday afternoon it had only recently come back on.

“It came back at about 4:55 after about an hour,” McClellan said. “We were going to close up and pack up, but it came back on.”

McClellan said that because most customers come later in the evening, the outage didn’t cause any disruption to the normal flow of patrons.

Neighboring establishments Chili’s, Dairy Queen and Texas Roadhouse all had power at approximately 5 p.m.

Mirror Staff Writer Andrew Mollenauer is at 814-946-7428.