The owner of a Merrillville store heavily damaged by a fire Monday morning said several hours after it started he was still in shock.
“I just can’t believe it myself,” said Bill Hylek, owner of Shop-Rite Imported Foods and Produce, at 349 W. 80th Place.
Merrillville Fire Deputy Chief Jim Lilley said the department got a call about the fire just after 11 a.m. When crews got there, the roof was on fire, he said.
Their work was hampered by the weather.
“The wind didn’t help us today,” Lilley said, adding that it fed the fire.
Fire crews from Crown Point, Hobart and Lake Ridge also responded to the fire.
No one was hurt, although employees were in the store when it started. The contents of the building are a loss because the roof collapsed, officials said. Fire officials are still investigating what started the fire.
Hylek said he was not there but that employees called him. When he arrived, the roof was on fire, he said.
The store has been in the building for about a year, Hylek said, and he plans on coming back.
The building sits in between the U.S. Post Office’s Merrillville branch and the Liquor Bucket, but neither of the other buildings were damaged. Cars were blocked from entering the post office’s parking lot, but it remained open to customers who walked over.
