One of Tasmania’s most-loved shops has found its groove again after a devastating event last year.
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On Christmas Eve 2015, a faulty switchboard ignited a fire that destroyed Latrobe’s Reliquaire.
The total damage was estimated at $3 million.
With 20 years of business in tatters, the Reliquaire family was at a loss, Sylvia Christie said.
After a temporary pop-up shop, the business moved into the family’s Hamilton Street home while plans kicked into gear to rebuild the original site.
“We’ve been very fortunate that we can utilise this home, which we only had for five months, (as) a shop,” Mrs Christie said.
The two-storey home has maintained the Reliquaire charm, full of odds and ends, and nooks and crannies to discover.
“We’ve just jammed as much as we can in here,” Mrs Christie said, and gestured to model aeroplanes, paintings and drawers that pack a bay window-lined room.
“It’s almost like I don’t know if I want to take it all out now, I like it.”
This time next year, the Reliquaire team envisage that they will be preparing for the last-minute Christmas rush in the rebuilt Gilbert Street store.
Mrs Christie said they were in the final stages of gaining the last approvals so that builders could get to work on the project in January.
She said she was anticipating a six month build, and another six months for the store to be pulled together.
The new building will be single storey, with a brick facade and a skylight.
“It’s basically one big shed, but then we’ll be putting it into little sections. It’s going to have the old-world charm, with a modern touch,” Mrs Christie said.
Inspired by the positive reception that the garden at its temporary home has received, Mrs Christie said they would be incorporating more outdoor displays into the revamped site.
It has been almost 12 months since the fire, but Mrs Christie said the team was determined to stay positive, and not dwell on the past.
She said they were grateful from the support of the Latrobe community and beyond, and were in the midst of a “really good Christmas” season.
“It’ll be nice for us to have our home back,” Mrs Christie said, of the eventual move.
“We lived above the shop for 20 years, so we only just really got a home.”
