MINT HILL, N.C. — Perry's Market in Mint Hill, North Carolina, has become a landmark of sorts.
For more than four decades, customers have come inside for snacks, drinks, lottery tickets, barbecue sandwiches and to pay for gasoline. However, for over a week now, there hasn't been any gas to be sold.
The cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline has delayed their shipment.
Hackers who shut down some of the networks of Colonial Pipeline received nearly $5 million, according to Bloomberg and NBC News.
The company paid the ransom hours after it was hacked, according to Bloomberg. The hack shut down all four of its major pipelines that serve the Eastern and Southeastern United States. After making the payment, hackers provided the Georgia-based operator with a decrypting tool to restore its computer network. The decrypting tool was so slow that the company used its own backups to help restore the system.
After restarting operations on May 12, Colonial Pipeline said on May 13 that its entire pipeline system had restarted.
At the outages' height, more than 70% of North Carolina's gas stations were without fuel amid panic-buying, as were about half the stations in South Carolina and Georgia, GasBuddy.com reported.
The governor of North Carolina declared states of emergency to help ensure access. Other governors urged people not to hoard supplies.
The distribution problems have been fraying nerves.
"We have heard it could be up to two weeks before we will get gas," co-owner Melanie Perry explained. "We're a small business."
Co-owner Irvin Perry said the branded, bigger gas stations often receive fuel first, and then the smaller stations -- like his Perry's Market -- will get theirs.
RELATED: VERIFY: No, the Keystone XL Pipeline decision has nothing to do with gas crisis on east coast
But even still, this is unprecedented. Irvin Perry said even during the historic Hurricane Hugo in 1989, they had gas.
"It's really aggravating," Irvin Perry said. "We try to serve our customers. We're going to be one of the last ones to get gas."
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to the Defenders team by emailing money@wcnc.com.
Now, the Perrys hope customers stick with them through this outage.
"They say 'Well, if I can't buy gas, let me buy a BBQ sandwich,'" Irvin Perry shares. "They just come by and say hello."
The Colonial Pipeline delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast. There is no gasoline shortage, according to government officials and energy analysts, just delays in delivering the fuel from Gulf Coast refineries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.