Edmund Rd Four Square setting up to reopen after a fire forces it to close

Four Square Edmund Rd co-owner Clare Gallagher is over the moon to be opening after a blaze closed it in August. Photo / Stephen Parker

The supermarket is a place to buy bread and butter but for one married couple, Four Square Edmund Rd is their bread and butter.

But two months ago, that bread was more like toast after a blaze started in a switchboard which left the store in embers just a week before their two-year anniversary of owning it. But the couple, the staff and the store will rise from the ashes and open their doors to the community. Once again, providing the bread and butter.

A local supermarket which was forced to close after a blaze is opening next week.

The dream of being grocers burnt before the Four Square Edmund Rd owners' eyes after an electrical fire broke out in a switchboard on August 27 about 3pm.

The store is owned by married couple Clare and Richard Gallagher who spent the two-year anniversary of owning the store cleaning soot.

It was the store's busiest time on the busiest day of the week when the alarm sounded and the busy store became blackened and empty.

The past two months have been a rollercoaster of emotion, Clare Gallagher said, from sleepless nights to happy tears.

Edmund Rd Four Square owner Clare Gallagher in her store in August. Photo / Stephen Parker

"There's been some pretty dark moments but that's more about the magnitude of what could have happened," she said.

"We're very used to being open and being busy and our routines and roles are usually pretty set," she said.

While the pace changed, the sense of community grew both among the staff and customers.

"It's kind of like we're building a new store but we've got the benefit of having an existing team and a customer base," she said.

Gallagher said she was constantly asked when they would open and it felt good to be able to say when.

All staff had kept their jobs except one junior team member who had left high school and found fulltime work.

About 30 per cent of the stock was salvaged which included the bottles of wine and batteries.

The rest was either thrown away, donated or taken to a salvage company.

Edmund Rd Four Square closed for months due to fire. Photo / Stephen Parker

Staff member Becky Hogarth had worked there for two years and said the staff had really bonded as they came together to help get the store up and running.

She said she was excited for the doors to open again next week and felt closer with the team, too.

On Tuesday, the store will be blessed at 6.45am and the ribbon cut by two loyal customers, 9-year-old Anaru Fitzell and the former owner's grandfather, 97-year-old Selwyn Huston.

The store was a finalist in multiple categories in the 2018 Rotorua Business Awards including Excellence in the Retail Industry, the Social Licence Business Award and Employee of the Year.

Employee Daniel Ward won the Employee of the Year title at the awards.