In the Old Market the hum of heavy machinery is a daily reminder of the unimaginable. Cell phone video taken outside of LeWonderment shows the chaos of the January day.
“This window with no decal was shattered,” said Peggy Pawloski.
Peggy Pawloski the owner of LeWonderment in the Old Market says the M’s Pub fire also rocked her side of the block.
“All of this is new,” said Pawloski.
Pawloski says for more than 20 hours smoke seeped into her Old Market store.
“We had a company come in to clean and they were here for at least a month,” said Pawloski.
According to the EPA, anything that has been in contact with smoke and could be mouthed by a baby or child can’t be sold. Pawloski had to get rid of a majority of her inventory. Since January she’s been restocking her store.
“We're just putting in the finishing touches, putting the books back into the library now,” said Michelle Shephard.
Michelle Shephard, a designer for Family Labs, a part of LeWonderment, was hired on after the M’s Pub fire. She is excited to finally help showcase the store’s unique concepts.
“To see people every time they walk in and go oh wow, that's the best part. This is something that is new and original and it's necessarily not something they've seen before. It's that wonderment that we like,” said Shephard.
After almost 3 months of being closed, LeWonderment will reopen its doors on Friday.
“I’m just excited to see the customers. We have people that still have gift cards from Christmas that they need to spend. We've had a lot of people asking when, when, when? We have had a lot of support from our customers," said Pawloski.
The store is opening on Friday, but the grand reopening will take place on Saturday April 16th.
