Fort Frances Canadian Tire store owners appreciative of community support
The owner of the Canadian Tire store in Fort Frances is thanking the community for their support and assistance in getting the store reopened.
It was hit by an arson fire last December.
Crews worked around the clock to get the store back in good condition and allow customers to return on March 9th.
Store owner John Malgo says they received lots of words of encouragement during the repair work.
“It’s nice to see how much the town missed us,” says Malgo.
“You’re doing all this work and stuff, and then when you hear, even before we reopened, I might be shopping at Safeway or somewhere else in town, and just people saying, keep up the good work, we can’t wait for you to open. Those little bits of encouragement meant a lot. I know my team felt the same.”
Malgo says work crews from elsewhere in Canada and the United States.
“It’s been a massive effort. I think by the time everything’s said and done, it’s been over 66,000 man-hours,” says Malgo.
Local contractors were also called upon for assistance.
“That help came from unexpected places, whether that was Jim Armstrong helping to move something because we didn’t have a loader here or Daryl’s (Landscaping) team coming in and doing an amazing job keeping everyone safe moving snow,” says Malgo.
“We’d be in the middle of the job and, oh, we need an electrician. So I’d reach out to Mark (Caran), and he would have someone here if by magic.
“The team here, the team locally, the team across Canada, help from the states, corporation support, it’s been amazing.”
The Mark’s Work Warehouse Store was closed last week but was expected to open this week.
