Downtown businesses persevere after fires, explosion

By Jackie Valley

Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

For three weeks after a transformer explosion, fires and a gas leak that crippled businesses along South Main Street, employees of The Attic remodeled, painted and fixed electrical issues at a building across the street.

Last week, the world-renowned vintage clothing store reopened at its new location, 1025 South Main St., 26 days after the July 11 incidents and just in time for the Arts District’s First Friday event.

“It was just draining,” said Mayra Politis, owner of The Attic. “But it was just go, go, go because we had to open by First Friday to catch that wave of people that come.”

Other businesses in the Arts District along South Main Street are open, too, despite boarded-up windows that may cause passersby and potential customers to think otherwise.

An NV Energy substation exploded and caught fire the morning of July 11.

Later that day, a gas leak occurred a block away at the intersection of Coolidge Avenue and First Street, and the Opportunity Village Thrift Store caught fire that evening.

The road to reopening The Attic was not without its bumps, despite the store managing to move quickly into the vacant building across the street, Politis said.

The Attic, a small business already hurt by the poor economy, lost between $25,000 and $30,000 in revenue while it was closed, she said. Now, two-thirds of The Attic’s inventory is in storage because the new 3,600-square-foot store cannot accommodate everything housed in the old 10,000-square-foot building, she said.

“That’s an issue because I won’t be able to offer as much as I was once,” said Politis, who is keeping the store open Monday through Saturday to generate extra income. “That will cause problems in the long run, but we’ll see.”

As for eventually moving back to the old building — a place frequented by tourists and occasional celebrities such as Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox Arquette and Bob Saget — Politis said that’s still unclear.

She’s worried the building’s insurance will skyrocket after the NV Energy substation explosion. The building is now flanked by the blown-out substation to the north end and a temporary mobile substation to the south.

NV Energy plans to rebuild the substation by next summer in its original position along South Main Street.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue is still investigating and has not determined a cause for the July 11 incidents.

Meanwhile, a few doors up the street, Durette Candito is doing the best she can to keep her business afloat.

Durette Studio’s windows remain boarded up, even though Candito is still working there as much as possible.

Candito said a couple from Canada recently took a cab to her studio and walked in despite the boarded-up windows.

“I have a lot of that kind of business, and God knows how much of that I’m losing,” said Candito, who has been in that location for six years. “I just want everyone to know that the businesses down there are open and viable.”

Even so, Candito is looking for a new location within the Arts District because her business must completely vacate the building for three months while workers make repairs.

“It’s sort of major for me to be able to move,” she said, referring to her many built-in displays. Durette Studio features door and cabinet hardware from around the world, in addition to lighting fixtures, furniture and accessories.

Candito said she has lost a significant amount of money since the July 11 incidents, but she is more worried about the long-term effect this period will have on her studio if people wrongly assume it’s shutting down.

“You can’t put a price on that,” she said. “It’s your reputation.”

Farther up the street, the Opportunity Village Thrift Store remains closed, boarded up and fenced off. The fire that ravaged the thrift store gutted the building, ruining donated merchandise and leaving the nonprofit’s store temporarily uninhabitable.

Stephen Miller, special events manager for Opportunity Village, said team members have not yet found a suitable temporary space for the thrift store, which needs to be between 25,000 and 30,000 square feet.

“We’re getting a lot of leads, so we have a team going to check on those,” he said. “But we have to be able to move in immediately.”

Still, Miller said, Opportunity Village is grateful for the amount of donations pouring in since the July 11 fire, including trailers donated from Freeman, warehouse space from GES, trucks from Penske and $10,000 worth of model home furniture from Pardee Homes.

The donations fill 25 trailers, he said. And there are more to come.

Residents and their family members at Delmar Gardens, a nursing and rehabilitation center off Wigwam Parkway in Henderson, collected a mound of goods in honor of their friend Eve Chariton, who lives at Delmar Gardens and works at the Opportunity Village Thrift Store.

“Eve means a lot to them, and they wanted to support her work,” said Kristy Newsom, director of activities at Delmar Gardens. “It’s been amazing.”

During a two-week donation drive, Newsom said, residents donated everything from appliances to toys and clothes, all stacked in the center’s conference room awaiting delivery. One resident cleaned her closet and donated four bags of goods, she said.

“We were going to take our own bus to deliver it, but it’s actually too much stuff,” Newsom said. Instead, Opportunity Village employees surveyed the items Thursday and will pick them up soon.

Until those goods can be sold at a temporary location, the Opportunity Village clients — people with intellectual disabilities who receive job training and work at the thrift store — are working at one of the nonprofit’s three other campuses.

“They’re working. They’re getting paid,” Miller said. “But they’re not doing what they enjoy, which is the retail.”