CENTERVILLE — The question "How can we help you today?" was much more than a routine retail sales approach Tuesday as clientele, friends, family and even the competition showed up to ask how they could help Colonial Building Supply.
"It's supposed to work the other way around, isn't it?" Jerry Cromer, manager of Colonial's door manufacturing department, said as he surveyed the damage of a Monday fire that burned the retail hardware section of the business to the ground.
The 25 percent of the business that he oversees will be back at 100 percent by the end of the week, Cromer estimated, noting that a quick response by local firefighters and a firewall between the front-end display area and the company's warehouse kept the blaze from causing a total loss.
"It's not business as usual …," he said, his comment interrupted by the sudden slap of about 60 pounds of water-soaked ceiling tile hitting the floor of what used to be the business office. "Not usual, but pretty close."
As insurance investigators combed through the caved-in roof and blackened interior walls of the store, food started showing up on a table in the back, brought by regular customers and neighboring businesses. Some grabbed brooms or offered to bring whatever handled or motorized tools they thought might help get the store fully back in business.
"I buy 90 percent of my materials here," said Alan Bott, an area general contractor. "You get to know who you do business with. They become a kind of second family, and you can't help but try to see what they can use when something like this happens."
The economy has been its own kind of destructive force in the building and supply business, Bott said, noting that he has resorted to taking work out of state and that his usual 11 houses per year has dwindled to three.
"I've managed to stay busy, but it's been really slow for a while now," he said. "Doing a lot of garages lately, though."
Orders for loads of lumber were still rolling out of Colonial's unscathed warehouse Tuesday. And thanks to a triple-wide trailer loaned by Jacobsen Construction set up in front, the business office, which was swamped dousing the fire, will be back up and running by the weekend.
A few retail customers who were pushing brooms Tuesday afternoon said the store staff had saved more than one weekend project that had gotten caught in the netherworld between the right doohickey and the wrong thingamajig.
Colonial is caught, itself, as a traditional hometown hardware store in an era of the big-box outlet. At its own street intersection, customers have a choice of turning north and going a half-block to its parking lot or south a few blocks to a Home Depot.
"Hey, Home Depot brought us water this morning and was seeing what else they could do," said Mat Johnson, head of purchasing for Colonial, adding that people across the Centerville business community and just concerned folks dropped by to see if there was anything they could do.
"The way the economy has been on construction, a hardware store needs a fire as much as …," Johnson said as someone called to cleaners not to throw anything away but to pile debris so it could be inspected.
"Well," Johnson continued, "the main thing is for people to know how much we appreciate their help, and to have a little patience with us."
e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com