Moncton — A Moncton thrift store has lost dozens of dollars after a fire broke out early Sunday evening, destroying most of the company’s valuable merchandise and leaving management wondering how they can possibly ever recoup their losses.
“I know we have a little bit of insurance that will cover most of the monetary loss,” expressed saddened store-owner Barbara Washburn, “but we’ll never be able to replace the memories and the personal attachments.”
Washburn reviewed some of what she felt were the more valuable and special items lost in the blaze.
“A real good copy of Kindergarten Cop on VHS on sale for $2.25 — those things are hard to come by because they’re usually worn out from so many views,” she mourned. “We had a nice assortment of gently used pantyhose going for 30 cents each, some real nice, naturally faded corduroys for 3 bucks, a couple different fanny packs for a dollar apiece and we had a great collection of CDs including Much Dance ’95 and most of the Big Shiny Tunes.”
“We were able to save a goldfish that was on sale for 18 cents,” bragged Shawn Clarkson, the first firefighter on the scene. “I actually ended up taking the cute little guy home for my kid.”
When asked about the condition of the goldfish, Clarkson revealed that it wasn’t worth the 18 cents, as it died shortly after being brought home.
“Unfortunately I didn’t acclimatize the fish properly to its new environment,” said Clarkson, “but I was able to get one that looked the exact same for a quarter at the pet store before my daughter ever noticed — named them both Gilbert.”
Clarkson determined that the fire started in a bin of “gently used party clothes.”
“Yep, I found a pair of suede hot-pants in the bin,” he said, “that had a pack of matches in the back pocket appearing to originate from Angie’s Show Palace in Dieppe.”