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Sofa Super Stores to reopen Saturday
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
The owner of the store and warehouse where the nine Charleston firefighters died on June 18 will reopen his Mount Pleasant and North Charleston locations on Saturday.
However, due to the loss of a considerable amount of inventory in the fire, not to mention the chain’s largest showroom, up to 20 employees now face the prospect of being laid off.
Sofa Super Store owner Herb Goldstein said in a statement issued through Touchpoint Communications, a Mount Pleasant public relations firm, that while the losses incurred by his stores pale in comparison to those of the families of the firefighters, his “abiding responsibility” to his company’s nearly 100 employees to keep the enterprise going.
The fire completely destroyed the company’s showroom on Savannah Highway and the warehouse that held merchandise for all three of Goldstein’s stores. About 75% of the company’s inventory and a year’s worth of records were lost, Goldstein’s statement said.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Goldstein closed his remaining locations, and hired mental health counselors to provide crisis counseling to his employees. He also continued to pay all of his employee’s salaries in the wake of the tragedy.
“But we open as a forever changed company,” Goldstein’s statement said, announcing the layoffs.
Goldstein said he has contracted with Trident One-Stop Career Center to provide placement services for the displaced employees, and he’s received an offer of assistance from the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Goldstein also offered a plea to other businesses in the community to consider hiring those he is now forced to let go.
“I ask that any business in need of hard working, loyal employees contact our remaining Sofa Super Stores and talk with a manager,” Goldstein said. “We have a group of wonderful people, and want to see everyone placed in a good job as soon as possible.”
The Sofa Super Store fire was the worst single loss of U.S. firefighters since the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
Authorities say the fire started by a loading dock but have not determined a cause.
On Wednesday, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. announced the city intends to purchase the 2.5-acre site of the fire and turn it into a memorial park in honor of the fallen firefighters.
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