The manager of a downtown Nelson business that first opened over 50 years ago says it lost all of its inventory after a fire was set outside its building in November.
Nature's Health, which sells health products and supplements, has been closed since Nov. 21 when a pallet was set on fire in an alley outside its building at 461 Josephine St. The fire spread through the rear exterior stairs and destroyed three lower level rooms as well as a washroom.
Although the fire didn't make it upstairs to the storefront, smoke seeped in and destroyed all of the stock.
Nature's Health manager Fred Tarasoff said prior to the fire, the business had stocked up for its busiest months of the year that happen to be November, December and January.
“It was really sad to see, because a lot of it seemed in really good shape. But when it comes down to smoke, it can penetrate through a lot of plastics and it was deemed that most of it was unsalvageable and unsellable.”
Nature's Health is one of Nelson's oldest businesses. The store was started by Fred Tarasoff's father John in 1970 or 1971, with its first tiny storefront at Ward and Baker Streets.
Fred first started working at the store when he was about eight years old, and now manages it with his brother Tom and sister-in-law Kathy acting as owners. The loss of their business right as the holiday season was beginning has been difficult for the family to cope with.
“It's been a lot of ups and downs," said Fred. "I think initially I described it as sort of the stages of loss or grief that we've gone through, everything from anger to sadness to grief to you name it.”
Nature's Health is currently being gutted ahead of a restoration company's arrival. Fred said the landlord supports their return, which he admitted wasn't a sure thing in the days after the fire.
But now Fred says it is likely Nature's Health will reopen next year, possibly in April at the earliest. He credited community support for helping his family decide to rebuild.
“A lot of these customers have become really very close to us. It’s almost like our family in some ways. A lot of them are now adults but came to my dad’s store as toddlers, and now they’re bringing their toddlers into this store.”
