Wolfeboro grocery store that burned in 2023 nears re-opening day

WOLFEBORO — Perry Shaw was already in bed on the night of Jan. 16, 2023, when the phone rang. His wife answered it, then woke him.

“The store’s on fire,” he recalled her saying. He asked, “What store?”

“Your store.”

Shaw, general manager of the Hunter’s Shop ‘n Save at 60 S. Main St., was expecting to show up to the store at 2 a.m. the next morning to meet the first delivery truck of the day. Instead, he spent that night in the parking lot of his grocery store, wearing pajama bottoms and flip-flops in a freezing rain storm, watching in grief as his store was consumed by fire, and in awe as firefighters from at least 10 departments prevented the fire from damaging any of the many nearby buildings.

He said it was “heartbreaking” scene to behold, especially once he learned the building couldn’t be saved. On the heels of that realization, though, another phrase was uttered by the store’s ownership: “We will be back.”

Those four words have been motivating Shaw’s days since, and now he’s heading into the final stretch.

“Our scheduled reopening date as of today is June 20, if everything goes perfect, and it has so far,” Shaw said on May 16.

Cleanup from the fire — for which there still isn’t a known cause — was time-consuming, as every load of debris hauled away from the scene had to be tested for hazardous materials, and that was followed by the construction phase. It’s been a long 16 months, but the time is drawing ever nearer that Shaw and his team will again be able to welcome shoppers.

That store will be markedly different from the 50-year-old building it replaced. The new store will be 24.8% larger, Shaw said, mostly by “squaring off” the building’s footprint.

The new store’s design will address some old problems. Adding an indoor space for cart storage means they won’t get covered in snow in the winter or rain in the summer. There will also be three self-service checkout stations, so shoppers in a hurry can take matters into their own hands.

The design also addresses some modern concerns. The new refrigeration units will make use of A2L cooling technology, which is much more environmentally-friendly than conventional refrigerants. The building will be dramatically more efficient. So efficient, in fact, they had to find a novel way to shed heat, even in the winter.

“We’ll be saving a ton of money on refrigeration, heating and cooling. Our building is so well-insulated, we needed to find a way to dissipate the extra heat without just blowing it into the air,” Shaw said. “We’re actually sending heat to the Walgreen’s building next door.”

The new building will have a larger break room, and public restrooms that are accessible and what Shaw called “user-friendly.”

Some things will stay the same, though, Shaw said. In the old store, every square inch was utilized for merchandising.

“We packed it in there, we plan on doing the same here.” He plans to make the most of the new store’s space, and with 3,000 more square feet to work with, that will mean longer aisles and more variety.

Along with the close quarters, another familiarity awaiting shoppers will be faces. Shaw said owner Daniel Craffey, who also owns grocery stores in Glen and Gray, Maine, kept 24 of the Wolfeboro store’s full-time employees on the payroll, so the new store can reopen with veteran staff.

Some of them are veterans indeed. Shaw said some have been working at the store for 40 years and might not have ever worked anywhere else.

“I’ve worked in many grocery retail chains and independents throughout my career,” Shaw said. “This is the most caring, hard-working, family-oriented team,” Shaw said, noting he finds the term “teammate” more useful than “employee.”

“We work together as a team, we get the job done, whether people think we can do it or not. It’s a privilege to work with the teammates that we have.”

There’s a similar level of dedication among the store’s clientele.

“Very, very loyal, daily shoppers,” Shaw said. The company rented a small office across the street from the construction site, and, “we have multiple shoppers coming in every day, looking for updates when we’ll open, looking at photos of the site, offering their suggestions, which we try to fulfill. Our customer base is phenomenal.”

For employees, the store is more than just a job, and for the shoppers, it’s more than solely a place to stock their pantries.

“The store is a gathering place for the community,” Shaw said. “You come in during the summer and it’s packed. People stop and talk to their friends, sometimes the line is backed up, but nobody gets worked up about it because they know that when they get to the front they’ll be treated to world-class service and a smile.”

Shaw said there’s still a “terrifying” amount of work to do, but as the amount of time shrinks before he can open his doors, he said the amount of anticipation he feels builds.

How will he feel when that moment comes?

“Relieved and tired,” he predicted, “but ready to go.”