Hamilton was surprisingly quiet this morning as Hurricane Igor continued on its collision course towards Bermuda.

Yesterday’s long lines at Masters Ltd. were gone and the City Hall car park was half empty — only the liquor stores seemed to be doing brisk trade.

Residents appeared to have listened to Home Affairs Minister David Burch, who described Igor as “probably the worst storm we have seen” and advised everyone to do their shopping earlier in the week and not leave it to Saturday.

Today at Masters, Charlie Simons said it has been fairly calm, adding: “We are out of tarpaulin and lanterns. Generators, they’ve been gone since Thursday. They sold like hamburgers, right out of here! We are low on flashlights and coolers.

“Today is fairly quiet, but the previous two days have been busy from the moment we opened until we closed. It is good, people seem to have stocked up early this time.”

Many stores along Front Street were already boarded up. The English Sports Shop was relying on numbered thick boards, which have protected the storefront windows for more than 50 years.

“It is pretty quiet today here,” Kathy Bridges said. “We are prepared. At the moment the wind is not strong in Hamilton, but we live on South Shore and it is ferocious there already.

“We can see straight to St. David’s from our house, and all you can see is wave after wave.” Further along the street the Mac makeup store has taken a different approach; instead of boarding up they have placed a sign telling Igor to go away.

Shoppers were not seen in either two stores or Cecile’s and Astwood Dickinson, but they were found in Goslings.

“We have been busy,” a shop assistant said. “Black seal has been very popular, we stocked the shelf three times yesterday. Also Hennessy White has been very popular, it is smoother than the regular Hennessy. We will be closing at 5 p.m. today, a little earlier than usual.” One man in the shop said he was ready for the storm but stopped in to get some scotch.

“What else am I supposed to do when the lights go off,” said the new father of one.

* Don't forget to go to www.theroyalgazette.com to follow live updates and commentary on Hurricane Igor. Just click on the Follow It Live logo. Coverage starts at 4pm today (Saturday).