This week’s power outages have left thousands without electricity in western Queens, meaning some senior citizens have had to search for insulin, sweltering families have been living without air-conditioning, and many soon-to-be married couples have had their waits extended for stemware, napkin holders, and other items on their wedding wish-lists.

Among the many businesses hit by the power loss is an upscale retailer, Michael C.Fina, which e-mailed its customers yesterday the bad news that its bridal registry had been felled by the outages.

“We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the ConEd power outage in the New YorkArea, “the note, signed by “The Fina Family,” said. “Order confirmation and updates will be transmitted as soon as power is restored.”

“Oh my god, our entire warehouse operation shut down, so we’re talking about upwards of 300 people being sent home for at least a day and a half,” a store spokeswoman, Meryl Gold, said late last night.

The outages meant that the computers holding the registries for about 10,000 customers were inaccessible, Ms. Gold said.

Many other businesses were affected by power outages that stretched into their third day Thursday, confounding utility company officials, city leaders, and residents alike.

Just last month, a city energy task force lauded the local government’s preparedness for power failures. But the season’s first heat wave earlier this week slowed subway service, delayed flights, and, according to a Con Ed spokeswoman, Elizabeth Clark, knocked out power for at least 2,100 New Yorkers.

After nine or 10 high-voltage feeder cables that serve the area melted earlier this week, Con Ed has been unable restore to electricity to much of Astoria and pockets of others neighborhoods in western Queens. All but three have been repaired, Mayor Bloomberg said last night.

He said Con Edison officials told him that they’re hopeful that service will be restored by Friday, but the outage could stretch into Sunday.

“Keep in mind this is a business where there are no guarantees,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a hastily called press conference in Queens. “They’re using their best estimates of how long it will take to get everybody back up.”

Angry Astoria politicians, saying the borough is being treated like Gotham’s abandoned stepchild, lambasted Con Ed for not working fast enough to restore power. Earlier in the day they begged the mayor to visit Queens.

“Mr. Mayor, please come to our neighborhoods — see with your own eyes,” a City Council member who represents the area, Eric Gioia, said. Mr. Gioia was speaking on Ditmars Boulevard at 31st Street, a main thoroughfare where some traffic lights weren’t working and the few open stores had to rely on rented power generators.

Mr. Bloomberg said during an earlier press briefing at Gracie Mansion that he had summoned senior Con Ed managers to City Hall over the past few days, and he said he is satisfied with what they told him.

At the same press briefing, the mayor said he’d go out to Queens if he could fit the trip into his schedule.

“Me being out there is nice, and I’d like to it, but more important than having a photo op, I’m trying to make sure that we get the resources that the city can provide,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

After the Queens politicians’ intensifying complaints that Mr. Bloomberg was being insensitive, the mayor’s staff hurriedly announced an unscheduled press conference and briefing in Queens for Mr. Bloomberg.

It’s not just homes and businesses that have been operating without power. Throughout the week, the R train and other subway lines have suffered periodic outages.

Under the elevated subway tracks along 31st Street between Ditmars and Astoria boulevards, dozens of businesses were shuttered. Mike’s Diner was open, but the heated air inside was acrid.

The owner of K &T Meat Market in Western Queens, Steven Cinquemani, bought a generator to keep his business open, but city inspectors ticketed him in connection with obstructing the street with the cumbersome machine.

“It’s ridiculous — it’s unbelievable,” Mr. Cinquemani said. “I have a freezer full of stuff that’s going in the garbage.”

In the attempt to persuade Mr. Bloomberg to go Queens to witness this kind of damage, several of the Astoria politicians summoned the specter of another municipal crisis in which Queens felt forgotten — a 15-inch snowstorm in 1969 — that sullied Mayor Lindsay’s legacy after the borough went largely buried in snow while much of Manhattan got plowed.

“People in Queens — we have long memories,” a local woman said at the Astoria press conference yesterday morning.