After the Fire

Saturday, 5 April 2014 at 06:22

Once Again Upscale-Resale are waiting to reopen their Dundas Street location following a fire late last month

WOODSTOCK -- It's been an uphill battle, but the manager at Once Again Upscale-Resale says the business is doing well while they await to re-open their 484 Dundas Street location following a fire in the area last month.

On the evening of Thursday, March 20, Woodstock Firefighters responded to the strong smell of smoke coming from a behind a business located next to Once Again at 484 Dundas Street.

Crews forced their way into the store and neighbouring "Let's Eat Cake" where they discovered the blaze in a storage room at the back of the bakery. Once Again Manager Sue Deboer says she was allowed to see the damage first hand the day after the fire.

"The store really smelt like a rancid campfire smell, and it still smells the same. Thankfully the front of the store didn't get burned at all, but the store is still suffering with major smoke damage and soot as well," Deboer said.

Deboer says the store lost half its contents as a result of smoke damage, saying she along with her staff were recently given the okay to begin clean-up.

"We don't expect to be open for a quite a bit of time, but we do know from the restoration company that it will probably take at least three-to-four weeks for them to get our store clean."

One event which can help out is going on this weekend.

Woodstock Christian School is having it's annual Springfest Saturday morning at Oxford Auditorium from 7:00 am to Noon.

Deboer says people can bring any donation of clothing or small household items for the Springfest to their drop off location located on site.

Others looking to help out the non-profit group with and in-kind financial donation are invited to call the Once Again store at (519) 290-1200, and leave a message for call-back.

Once Again's main purpose is to generate revenue for Woodstock Christian School -- formerly known as John Knox Christian School -- with a goal of helping lower the cost of tuition which each family must pay in order for children to enrol there.

While more of half of Once Again's contents had to be disposed of because of heavy smoke damage, Deboer says the business is doing okay, and she's hoping the community can help them build up their contents before they can open again.

For items which were salvageable -- Deboer says Once Again will be holding a "Fire Sale" on Saturday, April 26 at Woodstock Christian School from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
The public is invited to come out and see some of the new and used furniture still for sale.