Neighborhood Pizza co-owner Reza Farr is relieved his family’s business was not destroyed in Sunday’s fire to a Hollister strip mall, but he also has questions looking ahead.
“What’s going to happen?” he said from outside the business Tuesday.
Neighborhood Pizza has been in Farr’s family for three decades – while he also has a business partner in Daniel Rubalcava – and he had to wait until Wednesday to go inside and assess the full damage from the blaze. Farr’s business sustained the least amount of damage among the three affected shops in the Tres Pinos Road shopping center. Two other neighboring businesses, Dollar Tree and Larry’s Liquors, looked to be in worse shape.
Farr was outside of the strip mall Tuesday and said it had remained unclear when he might be able to re-open the restaurant. He expressed particular concern for his employees, who are out of work during the holidays, though he also vowed a resilient return.
“We are going to come back strong,” he said.
He said he expects Neighborhood Pizza to re-open by the end of February. The business has to wait for the likely demolition of the Dollar Tree and liquor store, Farr said.
“It’s going to be demolished,” he said.
Firefighters early Sunday morning battled the blaze at Neighborhood Pizza, Larry’s Liquors and the Dollar Tree, while they prevented it from spreading farther to nearby stores such as the Goodwill, Spudnut bakery, the Wash House Laundromat or Round Table Pizza.
The fire to the three businesses was reported at 5:13 a.m. Sunday, according to Fire Chief Mike O’Connor. The cause was immediately unclear, but the blaze started in the Dollar Tree store.
Hollister’s fire department called in other area departments to help with the effort, while there were dozens of firefighters on scene between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. firing water into the businesses from the ground, roof and a ladder truck. A total of around 45 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze.
The three affected businesses appeared to be severely damaged. At the Dollar Tree, for instance, the fire pushed all the way through to the back of the building, and flames were bursting through the front when crews arrived, O’Connor said.
As of Tuesday, much of the inside to the Dollar Tree was visible with the front of the store knocked out.
Over at Larry’s Liquors, Manager Fernando Rodriguez from the outside said it looked as though the store suffered mostly water damage. While rows of food products remained intact, Rodriguez said he was surprised to see much of the tequila supply undamaged.
“Most of the bottles did not get burned,” he said.
