SCRANTON -- A grocery store in Scranton expects to reopen Thursday with brand new inventory.
Gerrity's Supermarket on Meadow Avenue had to throw out all its fresh produce and meat after a small but smoky fire overnight.
Gerrity's tossed hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of food, almost everything fresh or unwrapped. But, some of that fresh food would still pass inspection was sent to a food pantry.
The employees at the Gerrity's Supermarket on Meadow Avenue in Scranton were asked to do things way outside their job descriptions. Some workers were taking food off the shelves and some were asked to turn customers away.
It was a break in the routine for customers, too.
"Senior discount and all that stuff, on Tuesday."
Of all days, it was senior citizen Tuesday. Because of a small fire, Gerrity's had to close the store in order to clean up and clear out all of its fresh product.
"I come up here at least twice a week for my groceries and I was very surprised, yeah. I don't know where I'm going to go to get my big order now," said Scranton resident Michael Yarem.
Those workers standing at the door? That turned out to be a busy job. There was a steady stream of surprised customers.
"Go back to work, I guess I'll go shopping later, somewhere else, hopefully they open soon," said Colleen Evans of Olyphant.
The store owners say a floor buffer caught fire after closing time Monday night and the store filled with smoke.
Gerrity's decided to take all its produce, meats, and baked goods off the shelves, even though some of it would pass inspection.
"So a lot of people will be impacted positively by, unfortunately, their tragedy."
Volunteers with the Bread Basket food pantry took most of the store's baked goods. Three car loads were distributed among the seven pantry locations in Lackawanna County.
"State inspectors came in and they did identify some things that had to be discarded. But, the store made the choice, rather than to risk anything, to get rid of all of their baked goods," said Pastor Howard Woodruff, Elm Park United Methodist Church.
The Bread Basket was able to take more food from Gerrity's than it normally would have been able to. All of the pantry locations recently got brand new freezers through a grant that had never been used before Tuesday.
That gave this sour day for Gerrity's a sweet end.
"They're doing a great job because they're going to go ahead and give back to the community. They're just great for that, you know, and it's a wonderful thing that they're going to do, even though it's bad for them," said Tania Saavedra of Scranton.
Gerrity's on Meadow Avenue expects to reopen Thursday morning. The store's owner says insurance will cover the cost of the cleanup and the lost food.