MANISTEE COUNTY, Mich. — A Manistee County destination store is reopening to customers just over a year after a fire destroyed the family-owned business.
Greg and Bonnie Fischer will welcome back customers to their Dublin General Store beginning at 9 a.m. on Sept. 23. Following the grand reopening the store will be open seven days a week.
"We try to have everything for everybody," said Greg. "It's a destination for a lot of people," Bonnie added.
Tuesday the Fischers worked along side about 40 employees, contractors, and their son Dean Fischer to get the store ready for customers.
A fire destroyed the grocery and hardware store on Aug. 31, 2019.
"It was arson," said Greg. The fire took the building right to the ground.
Police have not made any arrests.
The Fischers started planning to rebuild a few days after the fire.
"We went through the mourning stage," said Greg. "It was devastating for us our family and for the community."
"We've had some hurdles along the way," Dean added. But the new expanded store is stocked and ready.
"It's exciting," Bonnie said. "Our store is unique, it's become a destination."
The new store is larger, approximately 43,000 square feet.
"Hardware there's more space in there, grocery there's more space in there," said Dean. "We carry a full line of sporting goods for people who are going hunting or anyone who's up here at their cabin they're not hauling groceries up here they can go shopping here and basically get everything they need."
Greg Fischer's grandparents opened the general store in 1935. In recent years the four-generation store has become a Manistee County landmark and known for its' 50 varieties of jerky and smoked meats.
"Our sticks, summer sausage, brats and hotdogs, it's all homemade," said Greg. "It's been a long year and we put a lot of work and planning into it and we're to the point we're finally opening tomorrow."
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