‘It’s devastating’: 1 store suffers ‘major damage’ after Barefoot Landing fire

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - The North Myrtle Fire Rescue said a fire caused major damage to a store on Tuesday morning at a popular shopping mall.

The North Myrtle Fire Rescue responded just before 2:30 a.m. to Barefoot Landing.

When they got there, Chief Billy Floyd said firefighters saw flames coming from the roof of Francesca’s, a clothing store that shares space with Liam John USA, also known as Johnnie-O. Firefighters also noticed that the building was starting to collapse.

“Quick deployment of initial hose lines helped prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings,” the fire rescue stated in a Facebook post.

Only the one building with the two stores was impacted by the fire. While the damages were limited to the exterior, officials said one of the stores suffered “major fire damage.”

“Crews were able to stop the fire spread to the adjacent tenant limiting fire damage to the exterior wall and minimizing the damage inside from being any worse.” the fire rescue stated.

Sherry Rohrback who works for a neighboring business, Del Sol, said that the building holds a lot of meaning.

“The store that burned actually was the store we used to be in until 2017, so I was very sad to see that it was destroyed,” Rohrback said.

Floyd did confirm that no one was hurt, and no one was inside at the time.

“That’s the most important part. They’re going to survive too, I’m sure they’re strong, but it’s devastating,” said Carl Hamilton, the owner of The Spice and Tea Exchange in Barefoot Landing.

Meanwhile, Rohrback said that while the fire is devastating, it could have been much worse.

“Thankful that it didn’t happen when the store was filled with people or anything like that, so it’s very sad but there’s also a blessing involved,” Rohrback explained.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Horry County Fire Rescue, Myrtle Beach Fire Department and the Calabash Fire Department also responded to the scene.

Barefoot Landing issued the following statement on its Facebook page:

During the early morning, there was a fire contained to one unit, that included the Francesca’s and Liam John shops at Barefoot Landing. The fire has been contained and the area is being assessed. Barefoot Landing will open today and operate under normal hours.

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