Stradwicks employee guarantees the store will return after devastating fire
On Tuesday night, Stradwicks Carpet One Floor & Home was destroyed by a massive fire.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but North Bay fire chief estimates the damages will be “in the millions of dollars”.
The building was unoccupied, and the fire was not deemed suspicious.
“What really compounded the fire was the nature of the business as it contained carpets, laminate flooring and paint," says Whiteley.
Employee Carmen van Empel has shed a lot of tears over the loss.
“More than you can imagine,” says van Empel.
For more than 10 years she has worked at Stradwicks Carpet One Floor & Home store on Brule Street.
Carmen van Empel has been overwhelmed by the community support telling the Nugget she had received 360 text messages by Wednesday afternoon.
There was one message she received out of that large number that touched her heart more than any other.
Stradwicks was approached a few months ago by Mapleview elementary school; they were looking for some carpet scraps to piece together some yoga mats.on Wednesday the school sent a picture of the sewn together pieces of carpet with a message of hope, saying, “Our Stradwicks sponsors: We are holding you all closely in our thoughts and hope you are safe. A piece of everything you built remains with us.”
The longtime employee of Stradwicks says her faith in humanity is being restored.
“With all the bad news out there, the outpouring of support we are getting is amazing,” says van Empel.
This came just hours after she got the call about the fire and drove from her home in West Nipissing to see her place of employment going up in flames in person.
“I got the call just before 10 p.m. Tuesday night, and by the time I arrived on the scene, the store was fully engulfed,” says van Empel.
The days may be dark now for Stradwicks and its sta, but no one is giving up — indeed, the opposite is happening.
“We’re a family over there. We don’t have a big sta, but we work for super people,” says van Empel. One of those people, co-owner Gary James, told his employees that the owners are already looking for a new space and will be up and running as soon as they can.
“First words of Gary’s mouth were about finding a new space and rebuilding,” says van Empel.
She says even competitors have offered Stradwicks space to set up a temporary operation.
She says proudly, “Stradwicks will be back.”