PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Neighbors and patrons of a longtime local hardware store destroyed in a massive fire are "truly heartbroken" at the loss of a man who lived above the popular shop and ran a neighboring grocery for decades.
Bassam Awad and his family have been doing business at the Haifa Market at the corner of Flatbush and St. Mark's avenues for decades, locals said, directly next to Flatbush Hardware where Awad, 46, was killed Wednesday morning during a blaze that gutted the store and the three apartments above where his family lived.
“Great people, humble people, the people that remember your name, know your order, how you like it, know your kids, know your family,” said neighbor Jessica Catano who moved to the block in 2009, but whose husband has been visiting both stores since 1984.
“They’re always asking about my daughters,” she said. "If they do good on a test, they give them candy."
Catano heard the windows of the building breaking as the fire began at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, not immediately realizing where the blaze was coming from.
“When I realized it was them, my heart was crushed. They’re such good people,” she said. "Immediately, I went back inside to get whatever I could to keep them warm.”
Another neighbor, Marcia Jackson of St. Mark's Avenue, said the fire is “devastating for the neighborhood,” where on alternate side parking days, the guys from the store would keep an eye out for her car, she said.
“They would look out or sit by your car and say, ‘Oh, I was watching out for you,’” she said. “It was just a neighborhood thing.”
Tony Limuaco, a Prospect Heights resident of more than 30 years, said the shop was his go-to spot for hard-to-find parts for older houses, like knobs for his “ancient” stove. He said he was “truly heartbroken” to see the wreckage of the store, which had been in the neighborhood for as long as he had.
“It was just a small business, a local business. They hung in through all the bad times — the recessions, whatnot,” he said.
The fire department determined faulty electrical wiring in a neon sign on the store’s front caused the fire.
On either side of the building, the Haifa Market at 263 Flatbush Ave. and Morgan’s Barbecue restaurant at 267 Flatbush Ave. were both closed Wednesday as fire officials inspected the scene.
The owners of Morgan’s said the restaurant did not suffer any physical damage during the fire and they hope to reopen on Thursday, they said.
It’s unclear when the market will reopen.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated the Awad family ran both the hardware store and the Haifa Market. Though the family owns the hardware store's building, a separate family manages the shop.
