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An Altadena grocery store that was spared from the deadly Eaton Fire is slated to reopen for the first time in weeks since the disaster displaced hundreds of people in its destructive path.
The Grocery Outlet on Lake Avenue will reopen its doors to the community on Wednesday. Sandra Valenzuela, who owns the store, said it’s an emotional reopening not only for her, but for the neighborhood.
“Overall saddened, saddened because my neighbors across the street were no longer there, a lot of our community was no longer there,” she said.
Valenzuela said she was shocked when she learned her business survived the fire. Even though it didn’t burn down, it was determined to be a total loss because of the extensive smoke damage, which caused the loss of about 30 tons of products.
“There was a lot of soot and smoke all over everything, and for the safety of our community we didn’t want to take any chances,” she said.
However, Valenzuela, who purchased the store with her husband, Jose, in 2021, was determined to reopen. The couple knew how important it was for them to return for their neighbors and workers – especially for their five employees who lost their homes in the fire.
“We need to be here for them and the rest of our community,” Sandra said. “So many of us have lost so much. It’s important, they need their jobs, they need to be distracted, and we need to get back to some type of normalcy.”
Reopening is a monumental task that included extensive cleaning and restocking their shelves – costing nearly a million dollars to get back up and running.
“We’re not the only small business in Altadena, but we definitely hope after us we can get everybody back open and get Altadena going again,” Jose said.
Grocery Outlet will reopen at 9 a.m. Wednesday and close at 6 p.m.
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