LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An early-morning fire ripped through a strip mall, damaging a number of businesses on Monday.
It happened just as the holiday shopping season begins, hurting the bottom line for business owners who are now forced to close because of the damage.
The owner of Super Liquor surveyed the damage on Monday afternoon alongside his nephew, Revan Suliman, who said it’s a big loss for his family. They had the store for more than 15 years.
“We’ve had our foundation here. We brought this from the ground up. Definitely tough to see it go,” he said.
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The liquor store was one of at least five businesses damaged at the Rodeo Paradise strip mall at the intersection of Flamingo and Paradise Roads. Clark County firefighters say the blaze likely started in the area of a dry cleaning shop before spreading out to other businesses. The fire left gutted units and collapsed roofs.
Suliman says this comes at an unfortunate time, with the busy holiday shopping season just starting.
“It was just right after Thanksgiving — spending time with your family and you come to this. It’s tough, especially with Christmas coming around,” he said.
Suliman estimates the losses to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for Super Liquor, but he’s thankful the fire happened when the store was closed with no one inside. Fire crews say no one was hurt as a result of the fire.
His family’s focus is now on new beginnings with a rebuild.
“Just got to look at the positives and see what we can get and do from here on forward,” he said.
Clark County firefighters say the cause of this fire remains under investigation. Some of these businesses will remain closed for the next few weeks as the owners clean up and figure out how to rebuild.
