Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 25, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 11 W Cobbler Shop West Clip & Dip Dog Grooming Sportsman's Barber Shop Best Nail Co. Rte. 27 Pond St. Nancy Kelley Dance Studio (Reopened) Iron Horse (Looking for new location) Christian Science Reading Room (Reopened) King Wok (Not reopening) Rte. 135 2 3 4 2 3 4 1 Businesses closed: La Creme Salon 5 Insurance would help us through disaster F L AS H P O L L How prepared is your business for a catastrophe like the Natick fire? We are fully insured, have a strategic emergency plan, and would be back up and running within a few days. 44% A nine-alarm fire ripped through a Natick building in July, forcing eight businesses to either close or relocate, including the Nancy Kelley Dance Studio, the knitting supply store Iron Horse, the King Wok restaurant, Metro Pets, and a Christian Science Reading Room. When polled online, the majority of WBJ readers said their businesses could almost immediately recover from the disaster, thanks to insurance. It might take us a month or so, but we eventually could reopen in a new facility. 39% We would have to rely on state and local aid in order to avoid closing. We simply would have to close permanently. 10% 7% "I chose the 'month or so' answer as the closest, but since my business is now home- based, we would also be homeless. I think it would take more than a month!" COMMENTS: "Any effective emergency response plan must also (at least) cover the potential loss of vital hardware, software, and digital data as well as specific ways your business will inform and engage current and potential customers/clients." - Bruce Mendelsohn nue waived any penalties normally levied for late payments for those businesses. e July 22 fire destroyed the 13,000-square-foot building spanning the whole block along South Main Street between West Central Street and Pond Street. e fire remains under joint inves- tigation by the Natick fire and police departments and State Police assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Finding the energy to recover Hourihan said she began looking for new space the next day, but the process was daunting. "At that point, you're tired," she said. "It's emotionally draining, so I would do a little bit at a time." Hourihan expects to open at the corner of Washington Street and South Avenue before the end of the month. In the meantime, the business has operated out of Hourihan's living room through the purchase of mobile dog grooming equipment. For a short period, Metro Pets also operated out of another dog grooming business on the two days a week the business was normally closed. Metro Pets is the latest tenant of the building to find a new home. e Christian Science Reading Room reopened at the end of September at a new space at 11 Washington St. e center, which is affiliated with the Chris- tian Science Church and offers books for reference and lending, got a boost in donated furniture from a fellow reading room in Maryland, manager Martha Madden said. Books and other things could be replaced, Madden said, finding a silver lining in the reading room losing all of its materials. "We can put (the reading room) somewhere else, but the service to the community couldn't be lost," she said. "When we reopened, people would pop in and say, 'We're so glad to see you up and running again.'" Nancy Kelley Dance Studio reopened in October just across the street at 11 Pond St. at the former home of Maize Restoration & Remodeling. Iron Horse is still looking for a new location, while King Wok doesn't appear to be reopen- ing, Pandolf said. e owners of King Wok could not be reached for comment. An adjacent row of businesses – Cobbler Shop West, Clip & Dip Dog Grooming, Sportsman's Barber Shop, La Creme Salon and Best Nail Co – in a building sharing a wall with the fire-de- stroyed building were also initially affected by the disaster. Clip & Dip Dog Grooming first dealt with smoke damage – and then a belief by some in town that the group of busi- nesses were also going to be lost to the fire, even though the structure was not compromised. "We had a fire wall," Rosemary Wright, the owner of Clip & Dip, said of a protective barrier between the build- ings. "We've had rumors that people are taking the building down. at's not happening. "We had to close for five days," she said, "and that was bad enough." Businesses in jeopardy In red are the businesses directly impacted by the July fire, while the blue businesses were saved by a fire wall between the two multi-tenant buildings. Metro Pets (Reopened) 5 Businesses still open: 1

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