Owners of Bissett’s only grocery store to rebuild after fire

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This article was published 10/08/2017 (3159 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The small community of Bissett lost its only grocery store in a massive fire early Wednesday.

Wynne’s Place, a decades-old, family-run restaurant and grocery store, burned to the ground. An RCMP spokesman said investigators haven’t yet determined the cause of the blaze.

“We all came down and saw it burn,” said Terry Wynne, a member of the store’s namesake family. Aside from a few pieces of tin and a couple of machines that survived the blaze, he says Wynne’s Place is gone.

“It was definitely tragic for my family and my community,” said Jennifer Boulette, a member of the Wynne family who worked in the store for years.

“I grew up there, and my kids did, too,” she said. “It was devastating.”

Doug McPherson, the town’s deputy mayor and an active member of both the local fire department and ambulance service, called Wynne’s Place a watering hole where world issues could be solved over a cup of coffee.

By the time McPherson and other firefighters arrived on the scene Wednesday morning, there was little they could do but try to contain the flames. Soon, the business was engulfed, and the community’s meeting place was reduced to a smouldering pile.

Hugh Wynne, the family’s patriarch, said they acquired the property in 1984 after the town’s gold mine closed down and the building’s previous owner didn’t want it anymore.

Over the years, the business developed into a laundromat, coffee shop, restaurant and grocery store, all under one roof.

The community of about 150, located about 260 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg is — at least temporarily — without its one-stop shop.

But Hugh Wynne said the store won’t be gone for long.

One day after the blaze, the family is already setting up a temporary location in a nearby service station. Wynne says the business should be back up and running by the end of the weekend.

“As soon as the smoke clears with the insurance company, we’ll look at starting to rebuild,” he said Thursday. “There’s basically nothing else in town or any way to get groceries.”

The nearest grocery store is in Pine Falls, about 120 kilometres from Bissett.

Bissett, Wynne said, has had an up-and-down history, but its citizens have always managed to bounce back. This situation isn’t any different.

“We’ve had some very good years and we’ve had some very difficult years, but we’ve always survived.”

Powerview RCMP are investigating the fire.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca