What’s next for Pusateri’s after massive fire at Avenue Road location?

After a three-alarm fire that saw more than 70 firefighters battle a blaze that caused extensive damage to the Pusateri’s Fine Foods flagship store on Avenue Road, president Frank Luchetta has vowed to rebuild the store as soon as possible.

“We have total support from our community and customers, and we’re really excited about coming back bigger and stronger,” he said.

Luchetta confirmed that Pusateri’s owns several properties in the area, including the Avenue Road Car Wash site next door and several properties on Lawrence Ave. W. adjacent to it.

“But at this point, we just want to make sure [the rebuild] gets done in a timely fashion,” he said. 

The 35,000-square-foot building, home to both the company’s head office and flagship grocery store for almost 30 years, suffered major damage in the fire that took place around 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 15. Three of the grocer’s cleaners had been in the building before the fire broke out, but Luchetta was glad to report that all three made it out safely.

Toronto Fire Services division commander Bob O’Hallarn said that most of the damage was confined to the basement and main floor of the grocery store, with some smoke damage in the second-floor office space. 

Fire marshals were also called in to investigate — which is “standard procedure,” according to O’Hallarn, when there’s a suspicion of arson or damage estimated at $500,000 or more.

“Their inventory is well past half a million dollars, and much of it, if not all of it, may have to be destroyed,” he said. 

Although Luchetta said that suspicion was ruled out by the fire marshal, he did state that the store’s entire inventory was condemned, taken off-site and destroyed. The fine foods grocer is currently awaiting confirmation that there has been no structural damage to the foundation, before they can move forward with plans to rebuild. 

“If there is structural damage, it’ll just take a little longer to get things up and running,” said Luchetta, before adding that if it were up to him, they would be back in business by tomorrow. 

The extent and costs of the damage are still being investigated, but Luchetta noted that their insurance coverage should cover all expenses.

Although the store remains closed, all of its 180 employees have been relocated to other Pusateri’s locations at 57 Yorkville Ave. and the Bayview Village Shopping Centre, which remain open. 

“As of Monday morning [Aug. 17], everyone has been back to work, thank God,” he said, before adding that all of the store’s personal shopping and delivery services should be operational soon. 

Article exclusive to STREETS OF TORONTO