Pet store one of only two buildings left

By Shelley Smith

ssmith@salisburypost.com

David and Angela Lore saw the smoke as they drove toward Webb Road Flea Market with a car full of animals.

“We could see it all the way from Rockwell,” David said.

The Lores owned Pet Place at the flea market and rented an 1,800-square-foot, air-conditioned building they filled with nearly 1,000 animals, including snakes, chinchillas, exotic birds and even rats.

They stood among many other vendors who lost businesses Friday morning as the flea market just off Interstate 85 burned.

“Our first reaction was, ‘What are we going to do now?’ ” Angela said. “Right now, it’s our only income. But if everything’s gone, where do you start?”

Fortunately for the Lores, they didn’t lose everything. The windows and doors had melted on their building, but the structure stood. They only lost two small birds.

“Our Dumeril Boa had pushed the lid off of the cage and was going around the store,” said the Lores’ son, David Lore III. “He hid from the heat under the couch. Even a reptile couldn’t stand the heat.”

The Lores owned one of only two stores to survive the fire. The other, they said, was a tire shop.

“We’re trying to be hopeful,” David said. “We had talked about opening a pet store. Maybe this is our sign.”

“But if everything’s gone, where do you start?” Angela said. “We had just gotten to a good point. We started everything from the ground up.”

The Lores and other vendors who watched firefighters battle the blaze said they mourned not only the loss of their businesses, but also the friendships and community they built at the Webb Road Flea Market.

“You can’t be here for six years and not have friends,” Angela said.

Sarah Day, who has sold home decor and collectibles at the market for the past two years, cried when she heard the news.

“This is something I love doing,” she said. “It’s part of my livelihood. And it’s a family. It’s so much fun coming here, and I’ve learned so much about business from these long-term people.

“So many people have lost everything,” Day said. “A community is gone.”

Some have been at the market a long time, some just a short time.

Franciso Varela said he started selling Mexican stoves at the market only three weeks ago.

For the past 14 months, Mario Ramirez sold jewelry, lotions and cosmetics.

“It’s my only income, and a lot of different people had a lot of money here,” Ramirez said.

Edwin Andrade has sold fitness equipment for the past five years. After losing his full-time job three years ago, he put all his effort into his business at the flea market.

“I’m really sad that we’re losing all of the income we had,” he said. “I have a lot of friends out here, too.”

Geri Rodriguez has sold auto accessories and vinyl decals for four years at G Speed Racing. One of his customers called him with the news.

“I came up Webb Road and started crying like crazy,” he said. “I basically had everything there.”

Rodriguez said he lost between $8,000 and $10,000 worth of goods.

“It’s my only job,” he said. “My wife is the only one that works. I’ll basically start over at another flea market and do graphics. If I could get a couple hundred dollars, I could probably get started again.”

Despite his loss, Rodriguez remained positive.

“It’s a new beginning,” he said. “It’s not bad luck. It’s life.”

The possibility of a devastating fire, he said, has always been in the back of his mind.

“I’ve thought about it before, about how it would go up so quickly,” he said. “They have all flammables in there.”

David Lore said he was glad the fire didn’t happen on a Saturday or Sunday.

“If this place was packed, think about how many people would have been here,” he said. He estimated 40,000 people visited the market each weekend.

Lore was lucky, but hundreds of vendors were not, and most did not have insurance.

Investigators said the vendors could come back today to see what — if anything — they can salvage.

Contact Shelley Smith at 704-797-4246.