SALISBURY, Md - John Robinson, owner of the Robinson's Family of Businesses, said it was a pinched power cord that caused a fire at his business in Fruitland two Sundays ago. As a result of the fire, the business was forced to move. So, downtown Salisbury will be Robinson's new location and the business is set to open back up on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, it was way worse than I ever imagined," Robinson said. "The fire completely burned out our entire print shop and all of the trusses above the whole store were burned."
Initially the plan was to remain at the Fruitland location, but Robinson said the damage was too much to be able to reopen the store in Fruitland in a reasonable amount of time. The move to Salisbury will be complete later this week and could bring a boost to the city's downtown. Bringing the downtown back to life was a top priority for outgoing Mayor Jim Ireton. Jake Day, who on Monday night was sworn in as the city's new mayor, said he plans to continue the effort to breathe new life into downtown.
"The new mayor, Jake Day, called me up personally as soon as the fire happened. And then I told him about the locations I was looking at as far as relocating to and he said downtown. He said, 'Come downtown.' He actually texted me "downtown" with huge exclamation marks. And in talking to him, I made that decision," Robinson said.
Robinson said his employees and volunteers have been working around the clock to get the business ready to be reopened and that reopening will happen Thursday morning at 10 a.m.
