Not only were Whitehorse residents shaken awake by this morning’s earthquakes, but so too were items on local store shelves.

The venerable Riverside Grocery, located in downtown Whitehorse on Lowe Street, felt some minimal impact before opening this morning.

Staff shared three photos of the aftermath on their Facebook page along with a pun-filled caption about a jar of pickles that was broken.

“We’re in a bit of a pickle but we will still be open at 8!” reads the post.

“Not a big dill, just some gherkins. We don’t relish the cleanup.”

Pat Commons, who owns the store with his wife, Leona, told the Star he was the first to arrive at the store early this morning to see the mess.

He noted a few items from the top shelves had fallen and only two items were broken.

“It seemed we have a lot of stuff that’s stacked quite high and it’s a little bit precarious, I guess,” he said.

“It was a pretty quick cleanup; it was mostly just stuff that fell off the shelves so it was better than it could have been.”

While the power to the store was immediately knocked out and he arrived in the dark, Commons said the power was up and running again for regular opening time at 8 a.m.

Community glass blowing studio Lumel Studios located at Keish Street downtown was also affected by the quakes.

On their Facebook page, they posted several photos of glass that had shattered on the floor.

“A few casualties with this mornings earth SHAKE! But not too bad...the power is off so hoping for a quick reconnect for our furnaces sake-350 lbs. of cooling hot glass is not ideal,” reads the post.

Studio owner Luann Baker-Johnson told the Star early this afternoon she jumped in the car in her pajamas after the earthquake this morning and rushed to the studio to assess the damage.

When she arrived, she found the studio had fared better than she feared; six glass pieces including one large piece had been broken.

“The floor was littered with broken glass but the shelves looked fairly happy, fairly full still,” she said.

And the broken glass fragments won’t go to waste. She said staff plan to re-use the glass to make more pieces potentially inspired by the May 2017 earthquake.

“We’ll re-do those pieces in a fabulous way,” she said.

“We’ll see that inspires us in the end.”

While she was in the studio, the second earthquake hit.

“It was like an orchestra of tinkling glass but nothing else fell,” she said.

Baker-Johnson noted she was most worried about the store in Carcross Commons, as it was closer to the epicenter of the quake.

They had set up pieces there just Sunday for the summer season. But thankfully, she said, no glass work there was damaged or broken.

She was also concerned about how the power outtage would affect molten glass.

“If something has been severely damaged within 4 1/2 hours, we have to scoop all that glass out of the furnace otherwise it will crack the crucible,” Baker-Johnson explained.

But the power was not out long enough to have too much of an effect.

She said she was encouraged by people who contacted her letting her know that the power would be up and running shortly.

“It was just people saying, ‘don’t worry the power is coming.’ So that was sweet, that’s Yukoners, eh?” she said.

All in all, she was positive about the minimal impact to the studio.

“I mean what do you do? You can’t cry over broken glass. You just make more, you move on,” she said.

Damage to the Yukon Liquor Store in Whitehorse was also minimal.

Patch Groenewegen, the marketing and social responsibility co-ordinator with the Yukon Liquor Corp., said only seven bottles were broken and there was no damage in the warehouse.

However, they won’t know the damage to the Haines Junction store, which was closer to the epicentre of the earthquake, until it opens on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, thousands of Yukoners will no doubt have long-term memories of their morning drama.

“It was a pretty good shake,” said Jean, who works at Bernies gas station in Whitehorse. She would not give her last name.

“At first, I thought my fridge was not starting properly. My poor old cat’s got big eyes.

“My one employee just came in and said she had stuff coming off of her shelves. Our power was off.”

Dustin Davis felt the shaking in Carcross.

“Our house shook a bit but nothing is damaged,” he said.

“I haven’t left my house, but most of the homes around here are maximum two storeys, and in Carcross, there are no real tall structures and I think everything can handle a decent little shake.”

Community Services Minister John Streicker briefed MLAs on the situation early this afternoon in the legislature. He noted Emergency Preparedness Week is next week. The Blanchard Highway camp was closed due to quake damage, he said.

With a file from The Canadian Press.