Queens, NY – The highly anticipated opening of the newly renovated Seasons flagship kosher supermarket in Kew Gardens Hills has been postponed, following a criminal act on the seventh day of Pesach that destroyed both the inventory and much of the actual store.
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Security cameras caught two unidentified men climbing a ladder onto the roof of the Main Street store at 5 AM on Monday morning. After removing vent covers from the roof, the men poured flammable liquid into the vents which they then ignited. In store sprinklers went off in response to the fire, dousing both the fire and the entire store for the entire day. An alert passerby noticed water pouring out of the store after Maariv Monday night and called 911.
“The sprinklers ran for approximately fifteen hours resulting in over half a million dollars worth of damage to the store,” said general manager Mayer Gold. “At first we thought maybe it was a broken pipe or a water main, but we were able to see exactly what happened thanks to the security cameras.”
Today instead of being filled with bustling customers restocking their pantries with chometz, Seasons is filled with arson investigators and crews from the insurance company who are both hard at work investigating the crime and repairing the damage to the store. Seaseons management hopes to know soon when the new grand opening will take place.
Seasons has three other locations in Scarsdale, Lawrence and the Upper West Side.
A very horrendous issue of vandalism (and hopefully the police will be able to figure out who and what, unlike that spate of “accidental fires” that took out a dozen or so Queens restaurants a couple of decades ago when the owners didn’t pay “protection” money). But there’s one side aspect here: Every properly installed sprinkler system is supposed to have an alarm to notify both passersby and the fire department. Someone goofed.
Don’t most stores have their fire system connected to a company that calls the authorities right away? FIFTEEN hours is a LONG time.
What a shame…so many heimishe yidden who their parnusse was waiting to start working now they will have to wait till its all rebuilt and ready for opening…
sorry about this news. I feel sorry for the owners/
wow to hear about that…… well i know its not easy, but its all from hashem, and we need to accept it b’ahava, even if its hard to see it that way! but hashem is testing us!
The question is who is responsible.
woa, your missing the point…. was i supposed to say exactly what i went through? no…. but yes through that ,i learned to take everything that happens b’ahava. i know its hard to accept but i try to…..and i really hope this store will open soon! and another point. i think it might have been one of the contractors or someone working there who knew where everything is and had made this mean horrendous plan!
What a tradegy. It is going to take a while to rebuild. The alarm system needs to be tuned up so that it notifies the police and the owner right away after an event takes places, i.e. a breakin, fire, spriklers on, whatever. That being said, it is still a terrible tradegy, hopefully insurance will cover the damaged product and damage to the building. It’s really a shame. I hope the people involved don’t get discouraged and continue on until the store is up and running. Please G-d something like this will never happen again. The thieves should be caught and punished appropriately. Good luck!
Are there any security experts that could advise the owners how best to protest their property in this environment. Perhaps it would be worth spending a little bit of $ to get some useful advice.
Cleanup on Aisle 7
Instead of everyone wondering what happened, we should give Mayer Gold “chizzuk” and write to him that all of us, IY”H, will be waiting to shop the day his door opens. I, along with other members of my family, cannot wait to start shopping there. Without berating other kosher stores in the neighborhood, I think every store can make a living in our neighborhood. However, I am partial to Seasons because the now defunct Supersol was the first big all kosher supermarket to open in our neighborhood, and I want to remain loyal to that location. I remember when Mayer was managing Supersol and he always had time, a smile, pertinent info about the products, a willingness to always help the customer. I remember him then and I am going to remember him now by going back. The store looks incredible and I personally wish him Hatzlocha Rabba. Our Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood should not forget him and patronize his store. Good luck MAYER!