As the non-essential retail world in Wales was preparing to reopen after months of closure, Syd Gaskin received a devastating phone call.
On the Saturday before the Monday reopening back in April the retailer was phoned to say there was smoke billowing from units next to his carpet and bed store.
He raced to the shop in Mochdre, near Colwyn Bay, and had to watch for four hours while his stock was wrecked by smoke and water as firefighters tackled the blaze.
The fire destroyed £60,000 worth of stock and led to another five months of closure.
This month, Syd finally reopened for the first time since the sudden December lockdown.
The only good news is that he has had the chance to revamp and modernise his Gaskins Carpets and Beds store on Swan Road.
Syd said: “It was the Saturday before restrictions were being lifted when I got the call to say the warehouse was on fire.
“When I got there I could see smoke billowing into the unit and the fire service were dousing the building with water.
“I couldn’t enter the shop for over four hours. When I did, it was still full of smoke.”
It took them two weeks to empty the store of the wrecked stock and many months to deep clean the unit and complete the revamp with a new showroom and stock.
He said: “It has been such a difficult few months, but the positive is I now have a new modem showroom.
“It’s been a nightmare for us but I took the decision to make this as good as we could for the next 25 years.
“It looks really good now, we have new stock, new suppliers and we have a 40 inch screen to really show customers how a carpet could look in their room.
“We’re doing appointments only at the moment and it’s nice finally having customers back inside the store.”
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