Glass Hardware has been a hotspot for the hardware needs of the town, but due to fires next door at So Dance Studio and BrickLane, they are struggling to get back up on their feet. Inventory has been damaged and parts of the building have suffered from smoke damage, meaning they have been operating in a limited capacity. They are currently operating under difficult circumstances. As they have their parent company in Wagga, they are getting products over as they need them and they are working out of the back of their warehouse, rather than the front of the shop due to health and safety reasons.
The business is facing challenging circumstances, but they want to let people know that they are trying their best to do what they can.
Kylie Slattery works at the Junee shop and gave the Junee Independent an update on the store itself.
“We can’t trade from inside the shop. We carry a large range of stock and we can’t sell anything from out of the store, can’t sell anything through the drive-thru,” she said.
“We have some sheds down the back that normally house excess stock, but we have new stock over from the Wagga store, which is only a very small percentage of what we normally sell.
“We are doing small orders with our suppliers as we are very limited for space, but we are trying to help people if we can get them something quickly, but it will take some time before we can recommence normal trading, as we are still waiting on insurance companies to come back to us.
“As far as our normal trading, it will be a significant time before we can do that. No-one is allowed into the shop because of the smoke damage, a bit of water damage and the smell in there is something else.
“So many people think that we are open forbusiness and weren’t affected, but we have five local staff and two juniors that we normally have here at the shop. At the moment there is only Tegan and myself here all the time. We do have a machinery repair guy and an agronomist that go out into the field and they can still do their jobs, but it is a battle and we are hoping we will get there eventually.
“I just hope everyone comes back to us when we reopen. I think a lot of people are surprised at how we are operating. We only have access around the back because we have set up a temporary office in the drive-thru.”
David Leah, General Manager of the Riverina Co-op said, “Currently we are operating at a very low level. We are trying to supply out of our store in Wagga to meet our member needs where possible. That is in the interim until we are operating again at a bit more of an increased level, which will hopefully be from next week.
“We have had to do some rejigging out the back and we will have a portable office onsite. We will then be able to operate at a level while we have the drive-thru section professionally cleaned and then we will hopefully have that back up and running while we get the main part of the store backup and running, which will take a little bit longer.
“We are just working with our insurance companies at the moment to get this to happen as quickly as we can. It is not something that we could just pick up and relocate overnight.
“There’s a lot of product in there that unfortunately we just can’t do anything with.
“There is a volume of stock that will be disposed of due to contamination or possible contamination.
“JJ’s Glass and Co is a part of the Riverina Co-op, so we are a member owned co-operative and it’s extremely important to get up and running, to a level were we can meet the majority of our member’s needs as quick as we can.
“Our insurance companies have been working around the clock to get it going and ourstaff, particularly the Junee staff, have been fantastic at dealing and coping with the situation, which I hope we never have to deal with anything like this again.
“Our Wagga team are helping out doing milk runs where required so we can have more stock in Junee. We have had to quarantine a large portion of our inventory that is in the Junee store. We did have some that was stored in our back sheds. We are doing abit, but it is taking time to get some infrastructure into place to be able to operate at asafe level.
“There are some legal restrictions that we have to abide by, as we sell chemicals, so we have to make sure we are operating within guidelines. The Riverina Co-op and JJ’s Glass and Co are keen to get back operating as quickly as we can and I hope this helps us become a stronger force in the market within the region. We will use the setback to strengthen our business and show the resilience we have as an established business.”
-Jack Murray
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