Local businesses are steadily recovering with community support in the wake of the Colonial Village shopping plaza fire that erupted in the wee hours of Dec. 9.
At Monarch Comics, a professional cleanup crew and dozens of community volunteers were gutting and boxing up the store on Monday to start returning it to its prefire condition.
After initially believing that there was a total loss of inventory because of the fire, Ed Katschke, owner of Monarch Comics, believes there might be some salvageable remnants, he said.
“A lot of our back-issue comic books were all bagged and boarded. A surprising amount of those we’ve been able to dry off and save,” Mr. Katschke said. “It will remain to see what happens during the actual cleanup process, whether they survive or not, but we’ve got high hopes.”
In the aftermath of the fire, Mr. Katschke has made new arrangements for his store and customers, he said.
“Dark moments at the beginning. But now we’re to the point where we can come back,” Mr. Katschke said.