Pocono News Section

Country Junction Ground-Breaking After Fire

Country Junction Ground-Breaking After Fire - Friday, July 3, 2009 at 6:40PM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Friday, Jul 3, 2009 @ 06:40pm EST

LEHIGHTON, CARBON COUNTY -- Jim Everett, the owner of the Country Junction in Lehighton, kept things simple at Friday's ground-breaking.

"This is a very big day for us," said Everett, who invited the public to the site of the new store. The original store burned down in October of 2006, and customers remember it all too well.

"The last time we were here, we were all crying," said Judy Biserta of Palmerton. "So this is a good thing."

"I always liked the store, and we came a lot," said Patrick Wawrzeniak of Brodheadsville. "It was sad when the store burned down, but we're happy they're rebuilding. I'm anxious to see it."

"It's a long time coming," added Everett. "The fire was about two and a half years ago. Since then, tens of thousands of our customers have asked when we'd rebuild. So, we kind of put bad things behind us really quick."

Everett hopes the new store means just as much to customers as the old one.

"That store just really had a feel," he said. "Nobody could ever put their finger on it, and that's what we're hoping to recapture."

He says the new store will have at least one thing the old store didn't.

"We'll have a sprinkler system in this one," he laughed.

Everett plans to re-open the new Country Junction by next April at the latest.