Drivers honk and wave to Nunamara General Store owner Kerrie Sinclair on what should be a joyous occasion but instead is a charred aftermath of devastation.
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It's the busiest the Tasman Highway has been for sometime after the Sideling Pass slowly re-opened to more vehicles on December 8.
However, the doors to the Nunamara General Store weren't ringing with customers after a fire turned the shop's insides to charcoal on Wednesday.
A heartbroken Mrs Sinclair was joined by her grandson Jordan Rowley on her return to the ruins of her business on December 8.
Wednesdays were her usual days off at the store, she said. After popping in that morning, she had gathered a to-do list and headed to town to stock up the shop.
Stopping by her parent's house, Mrs Sinclair said her niece had called to break the news.
She said they initially thought it was a joke.
"She [Mrs Sinclair's mum] looked at me and went white, she said 'it's your shop darling'," Mrs Sinclair said.
"When I came over the road, I was asking where's my staff. All I could see was the fire brigade and smoke coming out.
"Then I spotted them over the road and I went right now settle down. I then took one look at it and I just broke down.
"How much more can I take?"
The devastation comes four weeks after Mrs Sinclair's husband Doug died.
Fire investigators determined the blaze was accidental and related to an electrical issue within the ceiling cavity.
It took several hours for crews to extinguish the fire.
The extensive damage to the structure means the shop will need to be demolished and rebuilt.
Mrs Sinclair said her employees and people in the store were able to save all the mail and parcels before the fire got too strong.
I don't know when, but this little shop will be back up and open.
- Kerrie Sinclair
Those that rely on the store as their post office will now need to pick up their deliveries at Kings Meadows.
The general store had part of the Nunamara community for more than 60 years. It's a place Mrs Sinclair had worked at for more than 20 years and had been the business owner for around eight years.
"In my first year 2016, the floods came, and the floods came again ... then COVID and then the shutdown of the Sideling and the roads that did more damage than anything," she said.
"We managed to keep the doors open, because we had no one around.
"A little place can go through hardship ... and now this one."
She said fortunately her business was insured, while her landlord also had insurance.
It will be the land-owner's decision whether to rebuild the shop.
Mrs Sinclair said a rebuild and reopening was going to take some time.
"I don't know when, but this little shop will be back up and open," Mrs Sinclair promised.
She said she wouldn't have made it through the past few days without the support of her grandson and his wife, her grandkids and her mum and dad.
"This community is just unbelievable," she said.
"They've been through thick and thin, COVID, the floods, the Sideling ... we just went day-by-day and the community just stuck with me.
"They are the world to me."