In snowy days such as these, Facebook is a business' best friend -- and Twitter is a helpful accomplice.

A wide range of Ann Arbor area businesses turned to social media to tell their customers whether last night's blizzard would affect their operations.

Briarwood Mall even chose to use Facebook and Twitter as its primary method of communicating with its own stores about the mall's operations during the storm.

"This would give us instant updating capabilities and would alleviate the nearly 2,000 employees calling in for updates and avoiding false rumors," said Denise Murray, director of marketing for the mall, in an e-mail.

To close or not to close: that was the decision facing businesses in the lead-up to and aftermath of the blizzard that swept through Michigan overnight.

Although the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office officially recommended that businesses that don't provide crucial services shut their doors, businesses made a wide range of decisions.

Some closed early as the blizzard struck Tuesday night and made the rare decision to to close for the entire day today. Others opened a few hours late today but are back to business as usual now. Still others didn't change a thing.

In the end, the mall didn't change its hours in response to the snow, though a few stores closed early Tuesday night and some may have opened late this morning based on orders from their corporate offices, Murray said.

"The mall was fully prepared; we had our contractors on full alert, and even brought in additional contractors to assist in the snow removal," she said. "Management was in constant direct communication with the store managers, and we kept a careful eye on what the competition was doing, what the city and county were doing and the mall manager and security director stayed on location to be able to make a clear and accurate decision.

"The result is that the mall is able to stay open with little disruption and we have maintained a safe and comfortable shopping environment for our customer."

Communicating through social media was not relegated to retail's big players. Downtown shop The Cupcake Station, for example, told its 4,769 fans on Facebook that it would close today "for the safety of our staff and customers."

Salon Vox, which decided to maintain its regular hours, told its customers through its social media channels, as well.

"I figured people who have snow days, naturally the place they will end up is Facebook," said Tony Lupo, the salon's director of sales and marketing.

Here's a selection of how some other businesses decided to handle the storm:

• At the Arborland Center shopping complex on Washtenaw Avenue, Toys 'R' Us pushed its opening back two hours to noon today. Bed Bath & Beyond made no changes to its hours. Old Navy pushed back its opening from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Dress Barn opened at its usual time but may close early, an associate said.

Hiller's Market closed an hour early Tuesday night but opened at its normal time of 8 a.m. today.

"We didn't run out of anything. We were well stocked," said Hiller's manager Loretta Darke.

• In downtown Ann Arbor, Arbor Brewing Co. decided not to open until 4 p.m. today. Owner Rene Greff said the decision was made in large part because of the storm message from the Sheriff's Office.

"We definitely took that warning pretty seriously," she said. On Tuesday night, Arbor Brewing closed 90 minutes early at 11:30 p.m. But business was decent until then, which Greff attributed to workers celebrating expected snow days.

"Especially if they could walk to places, they were out having some drinks and celebrating," she said.

• Coffee shop Sweetwaters maintained its normal hours at its three locations.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.