NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Many stores in Lower Manhattan damaged by superstorm Sandy haven’t been able to benefit from the holiday season. But at one business near the South Street Seaport, they’re counting their lucky stars and their Christmas receipts.

WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell On The Story

Before the storm hit, they moved 10,000 bottles of wine 20 feet off the ground at Pasanella and Son Vitners. It didn’t matter.

“And then the next day, we found the entire 10,000 bottles just strewn in front of the store,” owner Marco Pasanella told WCBS 880 reporter Peter Haskell.

He said the loss was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are still trailer-sized generators along South Street and most of the flooded-out businesses are still closed.

But the doors are no longer closed at Pasanella’s.

“We got open three weeks to the day after Sandy and it took re-doing the store from eight feet down,” he said. “We had real motivation to get back up and running quickly.”

That’s because this is a critical time of year.

“So much of your annual sales can come within those last couple of months of the year,” he said. “It’s actually been incredibly busy.”

“People seem to be optimistic, more optimistic than I had imagined,” he added.

Of course, the real concern will come next month.

The store is located at 112 South Street.