What’s next for Poirier Furniture

CORNWALL, Ontario – Poirier Furniture, a staple in the downtown core of Cornwall since 1937, was destroyed on Thursday, July 26 when a fire quickly spread from two buildings on the corner of Alice St. and Montreal Rd. 

“It just put us and our employees in shock,” said Pierre Jette, co-owner of Poirier Furniture with his father Ray.

Poirier Furniture has been under its current management since 1977, when Ray was part of a group that purchased the building.

“I’m devastated for my employees, devestated for my loss, devastated for the customers, devastated for the people who lived around us,” said Jette. “They lost their possessions, they had to move. I’m just concerned about all those people as well.”  

The fire may have destroyed the long-time store front, but it didn’t destroy the family’s passion for their business—helping people turn their houses into homes.

According to Jette, the entire family is overwhelmed with the support they’ve received, and they hope to rebuild in the same spot where they were located at 711 Montreal Rd.

“We have great support around us…I have just been totally overwhelmed by the support and the kind words from the community, I can’t even, I can’t believe it,” said Jette emotionally. “It’s been unbelievable. It keeps me going, to rebuild. Everyone’s behind us, you know? It’s fantastic.”

Jette understands that the rebuilding process will be long. He said the list of challenges keeps growing everyday, from insurance to cleanup logistics. But Jette has already started the process of organizing, which he admits has been difficult.

“What’s next is that we are looking at temporary locations,” he said. “We are looking at definitely something temporarily for administration purposes. But our plan is to rebuild at this time.”

Luckily, all records, inventory and accounts have been backed up and saved. Everything from deliveries to cancellations is uncertain at this point, and customers will have to be patient.

“I do know that no one will lose their furniture or their money, that’s for sure. It’s just unfortunately it might take a bit of time,” said Jette.

Jette’s fondest memories of the store include time spent with his customers and employees.

“I mean, we go in everyday, we laugh everyday. We laugh with the customers. It’s really a family atmosphere…and that’s one of the reasons we want to come back for sure,” he said.

Jette would like to thank everyone for their support and the firefighters who worked quickly to save the bloc. 

“People want us to come back. That’s the main thing, and we’re going to do our best,” said Jette.