Armed with shopping carts and grocery bags, residents of Apsley, Ont., lined up Monday morning awaiting the reopening of the village’s only grocery store, which was destroyed by fire over three years ago.
An overnight fire on Dec. 4, 2020 destroyed Sayers Foods, which for decades has served the popular cottage country village approximately 60 kilometres north of Peterborough. The cause of the fire was deemed electrical.
The closure impacted many residents who are unable to drive to the nearest grocery outlets 40 to 50 kilometres north and south of Apsley.
The store has been in the same family for generations, independently owned and operated. Apsley has a population of 2,300 but it balloons to more than 12,000 during the summer months with tourists and cottagers.
On Monday, dozens of residents gathered at the store with grocery lists in hand to mark the occasion.
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Co-owner Jeff Sayers, who manages the business with his brother Rick and sister Barb, says the family is thankful for the support as challenges rose attempting to rebuild and reopen the Burleigh Street site.
“We are really thankful — really thankful for the support of the community through the whole time,” he said on Monday morning. “It’s been really important to us. Just thanks to everybody and we are looking forward to being back and serving on a regular basis.”
Sayers says the turnout for the opening was uplifting to him and his employees. It’s expected that at full capacity, the store will have between 30 and 5o staff.
“I was really impressed with the crowd that was here this morning and we saw a lot of familiar faces and some new faces,” he said. “It was a delight to meet everybody and to see all the returning people.”
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North Kawartha Township Mayor Carolyn Amyotte says the fire left a huge impact on the community as it occurred amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To have them lose the store at the hight of the pandemic — we were going into another lockdown at that point,” she said. “It was December of 2020; it was a real punch to the gut. But people rallied together and so patient waiting for this and our other businesses in our community stepped up.”
Sayers Foods will have a soft opening with a grand opening planned later this spring, Sayers noted.
Amyotte says the reopening helps reunite the community.
“This as a replacement — beautiful, stunning. It’s amazing and it’s so great to see all the people,” she said. “It’s funny because you think you are going to have a 10-minute shop but it will turn into an hour because you meet all your friends, all your community members. And suddenly we are solving all the world’s problems in the middle of a grocery store. It’s awesome.”
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