After Thursday fire, Gourmett Glatt to reopen Sunday

Gourmet Glatt Emporium, a kosher supermarket in Cedarhurst, reopened on Sunday after an early morning fire on Dec. 8 closed the Spruce Street store a little more 24 hours before Shabbos.

 Yeoli Steinberg, Gourmet Glatt’s general manager, told the Herald and Jewish Star, that the store opened its doors again at 7 a.m. on Dec. 11.

Howie Klagsburn, Gourmet Glatt's purchasing manager, told The Jewish Star that he expected the closure would last “just a couple of days.”  It was one day longer than expected. On Friday, store employees busted about cleaning the aisles and mopping the floors.  The damage was said to be light and confined to the basement, with only some smoke elsewhere in the building. “It was a minor fire and thank God no one was hurt,” Klagsburn said.

The Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department said that it responded to an automatic alarm from the store at 3:45 a.m. Thursday. The fire department found the origin of the fire in the kitchen in the store’s basement, Chief David Campbell said. “Nobody was hurt and the fire was contained in the kitchen.”

Campbell said the store would be closed until the Nassau County Department of Health conducted its post-fire inspection. The Nassau County fire marshal must also sign off on the store's safety before it reopens, he added. 

The Inwood, Woodmere, Hewlett and Meadowmere Park fire departments also responded. The Long Beach and Valley Stream fire departments and Atlantic Beach Rescue provided coverage in case of another emergency in the aforementioned fire districts. Nassau County Police Ambulance and department ambulance police were on the scene as well, officials said. 

 Gourmet Glatt in Woodmere was open Thursday, and more than the typical number of shoppers were there as a sign outside the Cedarhurst store directed patrons to the supermarket at 1030 Railroad Ave.

“We're making things as painless as possible at the Woodmere site,” Klagsburn said. In addition to fully staffed registers, “we're helping people to their cars, and street parking around the store is free.” Parking in Gourmet Glatt's Woodmere lot is also free.

 “Some things are out of our control, and we do feel terrible about the inconvenience,” was part of a statement posted on Gourmet Glatt's Facebook page Dec. 8. The statement also noted that the delivery fee for in-store delivery was waived on that Thursday.