SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – A community is supporting a decades-old family-owned business in San Francisco after it was hit by fire over the weekend. The overnight blaze severely damaged Great Wall Hardware in the city’s Sunset District and left one person hospitalized.
Shop owner Albert Chow has had mixed feelings since the fire. First, he is worried about his mother, who was taken to hospital and is now recovering, and then he has to take care of what is left of his hardware store.
“The front third of the store is definitely gone. The very front is definitely a total loss,” he said.
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Shortly before 4 a.m., Chow said, he received a call from his security company about a possible break-in at the Taraval Street store. He rushed to the store and found the building in flames.
“When I got here, there were about six fire trucks with about 20 firefighters desperately trying to put out the fire,” he said.
Amid the chaos, Chow was desperately searching for his 81-year-old mother, who lives above the store. A firefighter recognized the situation and told him that his mother had been found.
“I just thought, ‘Thank God.’ I was really worried for three or four minutes. In my head I was fearing the worst,” he said.
His mother was hospitalized for smoke inhalation but is now recovering. Chow says his parents opened the hardware store in the Inner Sunset in 1983.
“I’ve been in this store for 41 years since I was a teenager. I love this city,” he said.
The good news is that he has support from the community, which raised thousands of dollars in just 24 hours to reopen.
“Everyone from the mayor down called me, reached out and offered support. They set up a GoFundMe campaign for me. It was just incredible how people driving by honked their horns and gave me a heart sign,” he said.
The GoFundMe campaign has already raised more than $30,000. District Manager Joel Engardio says not only is this store vital, but Chow also plays an important role in the community through the area’s merchant association.
“It’s called People of Parkside and Sunset. The people, right? He runs a group where people and the community come to get information and learn how to create our best sunset. That’s why you see so many people flocking around Albert and his shop. He’s the fabric of our community,” Engardio said.
Chow says all the support has given him even more motivation to reopen the business, and he and his mother are touched by all the love.
Chow is also a building contractor and will therefore carry out much of the reconstruction work himself. The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire.
KRON4 has reached out to police to see if they are investigating a possible break-in that occurred shortly before the fire. We are awaiting a response.
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