Eleven days after the fire that demolished 816 Washington Ave. Coffee Bites has re-opened. The small coffee shop run by Soraya Meer, was re-opened yesterday after a week of cleaning. One unit closer to the site of the blaze sits a Boost Mobile store that is still shuttered due to water damage from the firefighting efforts.
Meer, who initially opened Coffee Bites last July, said she was simply happy to open the doors again.
“I'm just so relieved,” she said. “It's even more exciting than when we first opened. It's just a relief.”
An employee of Meers', who lives within shouting distance of the shop, called her the night of the fire.
“One of my employees rang me up to tell me the firemen were breaking in,” Meers said. “I dashed out of bed and came and had a look. It was devastating, it really was. It was mostly unknown. You just didn't know what was happening. The flames were just everywhere, the firemen – it was just devastating.”
But Meers said it could have been far worse. With money tight and the business just holding on, she said that she'd let her insurance policy lapse. Damage to the shop ended up being limited to a front window broken by entering firefighters, a bit of water, and a lot of soot.
“I'm going to get insurance,” she said. “My parents completely told me off and I'm very, very thankful to God that I did not get badly damaged. If it had been major? I don't know. I would have cried a whole lot.”
No comments:
Post a Comment