Duane's Furniture, Appliance and Electronics rebounds from blaze to reopen on Houlton Street

D1

By Shawn Merrithew

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

In the wake of a devastating fire earlier this year, a Woodstock businessman vowed to rebuild and be back in business in no time.

1 of 3

PHOTO BY SHAWN MERRITHEW

Duane's Furniture and Appliances new location, below Global Textiles on the Houlton Road, offers more space to display its various household products.

PHOTO BY SHAWN MERRITHEW

Three months after fire destroyed Duane's Furniture, Appliances and Electronics building on Green Street, it is back in operation at its new location along the Houlton Street in Woodstock, below Global Textiles.

PHOTO BY SHAWN MERRITHEW

Duane Wortman, left, owner of Duane's Furniture and Appliances, demonstrates to customer Ted Lamont, right, how the power chair works.

Three months later, Duane Wortman is true to his word.

In August, a raging inferno raced through Duane's Furniture & Appliances on Green Street in Woodstock, destroying the 10,000 square-foot building.

At the time, Wortman said he enjoyed the business too much to just walk away. While the fire was a set back, he said, it didn't break his entrepreneurial spirit.

Now Wortman is back in business and ready serve his loyal customers throughout Carleton County.

"It was a big hurdle and it probably would have discouraged a lot of people," Wortman explained. "I have been in it enough years that I love what I am doing. I like dealing with the public and I didn't want to move out of the area with the business (because) it has got a great clientele base."

Two weeks ago, Duane's Furniture & Appliances opened at its new location along the Houlton Street, below Global Textiles. Wortman said business has been going well.

"We have had a lot of support from our friends and our customers who were anxious to see us back up and running," explained Wortman. "We have kept our clientele and I don't feel we've lost any of that."

The business owner said he likes what the new location has to offer, but admits he will miss the previous building which he leased from Dale and Matt Fox to house his business for the past seven years.

Finding a new building in town to serve as Duane's new home was not an easy task, Wortman said.

"Just to find a large enough square footage, there was no space available," Wortman said. "So we went into the lower level of Global Textiles, and we got a lot more square footage for a showroom, about 12,000 square feet."

In addition, he said, he feels Houlton Street provides the business with a higher traffic area.

"So despite as much of the bad that came out of it (the fire), much good has come out of it too," Wortman said. "We were able to get more square footage for our showroom and it has a higher traffic-flow area. It is just one more stepping stone for us."

With the business back in operation, Wortman hopes he never has to go through another situation like he experienced this past summer.

For now, Wortman is settling into his new location and will continue the business from that spot. It is a great area, he said, and he has a good lease agreement with building owners, Bob and Stacey Bainbridge.

Now that he has more space, Wortman added, he plans to improve the business and diversify product lines. He also plans to expand and grow the business and he may look at building a new structure in a couple of years,

"But nothing is written in stone," Wortman said.

"It is just a matter, if we fill these shoes, we'll expand the business. There is always room for improvement in the business, (but), for right now, I'm looking forward to serving everyone in the New Year."