The fire that struck McCabe’s Greenhouse and Floral just before the New Year is long gone, but the smoke damage left behind has the McCabe family and its employees hurrying to restructure its greenhouse into a retail-ready storefront in time for Valentine’s Day sales.
The fire, caused by a furnace malfunction in the ceiling of the gift shop, broke out at the 40-year-old, family-owned garden center and greenhouse in Lawrenceburg, Ind. on Dec. 30. Damages were initially estimated to be about $20,000; however, that figure has increased to about $70,000 as restoration work continues. 
“We thought it wasn’t so bad when it happened. It was a small spot,” says general manager Beth McCabe Legge. The family thought they had the fire under control, but that wasn’t the case.
McCabe’s lost most of its electrical capabilities in the building, and inspectors ordered all insulation be removed. Offices had to be cleared out, so family members took turns bringing computers home and forwarding the business phone to the home number so they could still type up orders for funeral flower arrangements. “Probably 60 to 70 percent of our business is funerals, so that’s just a constant,” she says.
One of McCabe’s two greenhouses is being re-arranged into a storefront while repairs are made. “Our retail gift area had a greenhouse on both sides, so one side we always keep heated—that’s where we have all our plugs started and our growing [operation]—and the other side, we pretty much wouldn’t heat during the winter,” McCabe Legge says. “But we have a small heater running out there, and we keep that just about 32 [degrees] because that’s kind of our cooler now for fresh-cut flowers.”
But despite mounting costs and delays in repair, the fire damages brought about the possibility of redesigning the shop. The McCabes are still considering vaulted ceilings depending on the cost of insulation. And because the fire caused mostly smoke damage, no merchandise— with the exception of a few Christmas decorations—were ruined.
The fire also brought about a great sense of community for McCabe’s.
“We have two different pizza places on both sides [of McCabe’s] and a McDonad’s that brought food that day, and we’ve had customers who have been bringing us crock pots of food,” McCabe Legge says. And employees stepped in to help outside of regular business hours.
“It’s great to be in a small community when something like this happens,” she says.
The McCabe’s gift shop is predicted to move back from the greenhouse and be up and running by late February at the earliest.
Photo courtesy of McCabe's Greenhouse and Floral's Facebook page.