Two days after fire ravaged three St. Clair Street businesses, all were up and running to some extent Tuesday.
The building housing Sacwal Flooring, Ideal Decorating and the Lighting & Accent Gallery was gutted by fire Sunday, but they had temporary business locations for various elements of their operations, some a literal stone’s throw away from their former location, on Tuesday.
Ed Caldwell and family at Caldwell Brand Source, right next door on St. Clair Street, welcomed all three businesses inside his operation. Al Birkby and his Ideal team, as well as Jim Kelly and his Lighting & Accent family set up shop on an elevated platform in Caldwell Brand Source. Canquest hooked up their phone lines, while Maple City Office Equipment brought in desks.
Monica Massa of Ideal said the support from the community – from businesses and the public – has been incredible.
“They graciously opened their doors for us until we nail down a longer-term temporary location until we can rebuild,” she said of Caldwell. “Caldwell has been awesome. And on Sunday, Re/Max (business neighbours on the other side) opened the doors for us to meet with insurance brokers and all that stuff. The ongoing support is amazing.”
Alanna Aarssen, co-owner of Sacwal Flooring Centres, said her staff has been scattered somewhat, as the sales team is set up in a boardroom inside the municipal economic development office, while an offsite warehouse is being set up to receive product. The support from the community helped make the effort to find temporary locations easier.
“I would like to thank everyone for their outpouring of concern,” she said. “Businesses have pulled together to help us and our customers have been really patient.”
Massa said their customers have been incredible as well.
“Our clients have been pouring in. We’ve had so many good responses that way,” she said. “The community is really pulling for us.”
Caldwell was happy to help out the businesses.
“We’re neighbours. It’s right next door so they can keep an eye on what’s going on,” he said. “We just wanted to help.”
Thanks to telephones and the Internet, all three businesses are still functioning.
“We’re fully operational. We just don’t have our location,” Massa said. “A showroom is great to have, but we work with people on other levels as well. We go out to people’s homes.”
Kelly agreed, adding while they don’t yet have inventory, customers can still choose items off their website, lightingandaccentgallery.com.
“We still have our lowest price guarantee,” he said. “We still have that electronic presence.”
For all three operations, it’s back to business as they look for a temporary home and make plans to rebuild.
Shannon Kelly of the Lighting & Accent Gallery said they are working to fill orders that were already placed, and encourages customers to call in and remind them of any outstanding orders “because we still have a lot on our plate.”
Massa said at Ideal they were able to determine what inventory was lost and to whom it was destined. They are already reordering the items.
She said she and Birkby anticipate being back to doing installations as early as the end of the week.
“We’re reordering and people are telling us they aren’t worried,” she said. “Our clients have been so understanding. It’s awesome. They won’t be without their product for long.”
Aarssen said Sacwal personnel are reaching out to its clients as well.
“We will be working diligently to contact our customers to make arrangements to get their material in,” she said.
To contact Sacwal Flooring Centres, call 519-354-6121.
To reach the folks at Ideal Decorating, call 519-351-8500.
For the Lighting & Accent Gallery, it’s 519-354-4456.
The end goal at this time is to build a new home at the same spot on St. Clair Street.
“This is a great location in a great community. We will rebuild,” Aarssen said.
Meanwhile, their temporary host – Caldwell – suffered some loss from the fire as well. He said a room full of high-end mattresses suffered extensive smoke and heat damage, estimating his losses at between $80,000 and $100,000.
