Feb 16, 2010

Gift store rises from the ashesBy Brad WeierQT.com.au

An Ipswich business has risen from the ashes one year after being destroyed by fire.

Finicky Furniture and Gifts was gutted after an electrical fault sparked a blaze on February 15 last year.

Owner Wayne Freeman said the North Booval store, which was starting to build a solid customer base before the fire, lost about $10,000 worth of stock.

He said the new-look store reopened on February 3 with more floor space and a new lease on life.

“We’ve had to start from scratch in terms of stock. We had nothing left but we were lucky that insurance covered everything,” Mr Freeman said from the Gledson Street business.

“I thought about it, and this is what I’ve wanted to do all my life so I had to give it another go.

“I want to move more into the furniture side of things. My brother Michael makes pine furniture and we can customise pieces and stain them to order.

“We’ll have a bigger range of furniture in store and people can ask about orders online.”

Mr Freeman said he had tried hard to see the fire from a different perspective.

He said Ipswich was a city that supported its own and he was proud to open a small business in his home town.

“We’d been open for five months and were going really well before the fire,” he said.

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