A popular aquarium store in St Louis woke up to find a fire had devastated their retail premises overnight. Nobody was hurt, but the picture is one of devastation to the store and its livestock systems. In a statement on their social media Gateway Aquatics thanked those who helped, and the well-wishers, but confirmed it may be closed for three weeks while they clear out the damage and rebuild.
“So today was a day that you hope never happens,” said Chad, owner of Gateway Aquatics. “We had an electrical fire of some sort overnight and the guys opened the door to the remainder of its fury this morning. Best guess is we will be closed at least 3 weeks and will update as things progress but it’s really hard to say especially when EVERYTHING is covered in black soot.”
“After 18 years I do believe there is still plenty of life left in this location and we do plan on pushing forward. So for now stay tuned for what’s to come! Also wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone that called, texted, messaged, and stopped by the store to see if they could help. Good things make the bad days much better.”
“A big THANK YOU to Joe at Seascape and some of their crew making multiple trips to help us out with what could be helped. Also Damon at Marine Solutions for offering to come help asap as well. Along with a few others and one of our favorite customers Neil for pitching in to help.”
“It’s one of those things you look around in disbelief and you really just don’t know what to do other than save anything living that we could. We wait for insurance and powers that be to help us move in a positive direction. Then back up we go to rebuild this 18-year location for us and for our fantastic customers to stop and see us back in action soon!”
“We will still be doing our outside service work and maintenance as usual just shuffling around the store till we get everything sorted and a huge THANK YOU to the guys that really helped get this sorted out and get out anything we could save – Matt, Harrison and Shane whos help is always very much appreciated!”
We at Reef Builders are sorry to hear of this sad news but are spurred on by the aquatic community coming together and to hear the good news that despite this huge setback, Gateway Aquatics will rebuild.
