Littlestown Renovation Job | Local news

“I’m going to try to recreate the store as best I can,” Briner said.

While she’s focused on cleaning right now, Briner said she plans to have the Amish build a barn and use local companies for electrical and plumbing work.

Since opening Ma’s General Store in 1990, Briner has worked six days a week and spent an extra day looking for other items to bring to the store.

After the fire, Briner, aged 68, considered retirement. But as she sat at home, she knew she had to start over and rebuild the store.

“I’m not one to sit around,” she said. “It wasn’t a job for me. It was what I like to do.”

Ma’s General Store featured “country curtains, woven rugs, advertising signs, country and primitive home decor, food items and everything you need for your country and primitive home,” according to the company’s Facebook page. Briner recreated an old grocery store, allowing people to travel back in time.

“Many people have told me that my store looks like a museum,” she said.

One of the popular parts of the store was the vintage counter with nostalgic candies, Briner said.

In addition to the thousands of items for sale, Briner has collected thousands of antiques for more than 40 years that have been displayed in the store.

“I lost everything,” Briner said. “This store will never be the same. The store will be similar, but it will never be the same.”

One thing he hopes to return to the store is a full collection of Ma’s root beer cans. She hopes to find a complete set of 30 to 35 signs and recreate the display in the new store, she said.

“That’s one thing I’m really disappointed about that it didn’t survive the fire,” she said.

Brine’s purse, with everything intact, and her bag full of expense and payroll records were recovered from the fire, she said.

Barb Jenkins, a seamstress who worked on the first floor, had a bag that was also saved, according to Briner. Jenkins had planned to retire at the end of the year, so her work was cut short in two weeks, Briner added.

Briner said she will never forget December 20, 2022, the date of the fire.

She was on the second floor, and there were three customers in the store, while Jenkins was on the first floor.

Passersby saw flames coming from the roof and pulled over in the parking lot, Briner said. The man called 9-1-1, while the woman ran into the burning building to alert people at the store.

“It was the hardest day of my life,” Briner said.

10 fire companies were called, and the firefighters were on the ground for at least eight hours, she recalled.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, she said.

Briner was grateful to all the firefighters for their efforts and appreciated the help and kindness of neighbors who offered bathrooms, blankets and even hot chocolate that day, she said.

She has received hundreds of messages since the fire. People stopped by the property to express their condolences and share good wishes.

“I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support from this city and customers,” Briner said. “I never understood what this store meant to this city.”

With the Dec. 20 fire, Ma’s General Store lost five important days of the shopping season just before Christmas, Briner said. Many customers would make a last-minute stop at the store looking for unique gifts just before Christmas, she said.

For the past two weeks, Wes McDaniel, owner of McDaniel Salvage in Mount Joy Township, has been removing debris and doing demolition work on the property.

Although he has experience with such large buildings, he has not worked on one with antiquities in ruins. It differs from his usual work because they tried to be gentle with what they reveal.

“As for me, I like old things,” McDaniel said. “It tugged at my heart when I saw these things.”

For those interested, Briner said donations can be made in honor of Ma’s General Store Alpha Fire Co., 40 E. King St. Littlestown, PA 17340.