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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 21, 2007 - 7 Store owner vows to bounce back from second fire Continued from page 1 remaining items from the heavily smoke-smelling store. It's an all-too familiar scene. "We've lost all the stock again, and insurance is just deciding now whether to rip everything out again," McKinnon said. By everything, he means the ceiling, wall coverings and dry wall. This was all less than a month old since being rebuilt after the fire in mid-January. "We were open two weeks, just rocking along," said McKinnon. "This is going to present yet another big challenge. It's a big monetary loss. "Open two weeks, all the hard work and all the money spent to get the doors open is all being thrown out." The January fire started in Emporio Salon on the top level of the two-storey commercial building at 181 Thomas St. The Running Company, which occupies the bottom floor, got hardesthit because it was also badly flooded after pipes broke and water trickled down, causing the basement unit's ceiling to collapse. The entire unit had to be gutted, rebuilt and restocked. This time, McKinnon says, "The smoke damage is just as bad." He got a call from his alarm company at 4 a.m. on Saturday to alert him that glass was broken somewhere in the store. "They said don't bother coming down, if there is a problem when our guard gets there, he'll call you immediately." McKinnon says he stayed awake, but didn't receive another phone call. When he arrived at the store early Saturday morning, "it was full of smoke ­ you couldn't see front to back of the store. The stairwell was smoldering away." Hydro workers had already been called to Thomas Street ­ the power was out on the whole block because of The Running Company's electrical blow-up. "Hydro was out front, and I said, `Do you guys know my building is on fire?'" said McKinnon. He and Hydro workers then called fire fighters to the scene, and they "put the fire out quite easily," said McKinnon. The fire was contained to the stairwell leading up to the main floor of the building, home to Exotic Nail Spa, which was also heavily smoke damaged. "A big ball of fire went up the stairs apparently, so it just burned and filled the units with smoke," said McKinnon. As the fluorescent green sign taped to the store's front window indicates, the fire didn't really grind The Running Company's business to a halt. It's been open since Monday for special orders. They're expecting phone, heating, electricity and more to be rewired in the next couple of days. "I hate to say it, but we've got a little more experience this time," said McKinnon, laughing. "We're jumping on this really quick." The store owner assumes insurance workers will be back today to start pulling the flat wall and ceilings off because "any porous surfaces need to come out to get rid of the smoke smell," he says. Yesterday, The Running Company was almost completely empty other than a few shelving units. McKinnon was removing some final pictures of customers and other runners off the store's walls. And just like last time, he says his customers have been supportive. "They've been great. The customers have been volunteering their services, anything they can do. Without them it would be pretty hard to go on." These two devastating blows come at the start of The Running Company's 10th anniversary year. "We never had problems before this, we'd been very fortunate," said McKinnon. "This is our first incident and now another one." It took just six weeks to fully recover and rebuild after the last fire. McKinnon is hoping things are even faster this time, now that they're experienced. "Runners are resilient," he said. "Nobody's hurt, so you take a deep breath, you keep going and you get through it." Living Healthy A series of FREE public education seminars by Chronic Kidney Disease: Prevention and Management Wednesday, March 28, 2007 6:30 pm 7:00 pm Displays and Refreshments Presentation by: Dr. Daniel Sapir, Nephrologist, Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital Auditorium 327 Reynolds Street (reduced parking for those attending seminar) FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY CALL 905-338-4379 Presented in partnership with: REG VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER DEJA VU: The Running Company owner Greg McKinnon stands in front of his store, which was hit by another fire Saturday. It's the second fire to strike the local store in as many months. 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