CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Bait Bucket, a well-known fishing shop, almost lost everything when a neighboring building caught fire late Saturday night. The Gohlke family, who owns the business, could only watch as flames threatened their store.
“One of my friends lives right over here. It was about 1:30[a.m]. She said there was fire and wasn’t sure if it was the actual Bait Bucket or the building next door,” said owner Jamie Gohlke.
Although the store remained intact, the uncertainty remained.
“I was worried that we weren’t going to be able to open,” Gohlke said.
The shop ultimately reopened after about a day and a half, but the impacts were still significant.
“It’s spring break. It’s a big week for us,” Gohlke said.
All of the store’s live bait was lost, and coupled with lost sales, Gohlke estimated a total loss of around $15,000.
“I would say probably around fifteen thousand dollars just in sales that we lost,” Gohlke said.
By Monday morning, employees and family members were already cleaning up the aftermath.
“I have great employees. They showed up not caring if they’d be paid or not and helped do everything they could do,” Gohlke said.
Assistant Manager Arnold Mondragon was among the staff that showed up determined to get the store back up and running.
“We really didn't care about getting paid. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna clock in and get paid.’ We just need to come and help to get it going again,” Mondragon said.
Loyal customers like Jojo Bernado were relieved to see the shop back in business.
“On a scale of 1-10, it’s going to be a ten because, first of all, the staff is friendly. And I think they’re the cheapest, I think,” Bernado said.
Though the store is now open, the owners expect it will take a few weeks to fully restore everything.
According to CCFD, the cause of the fire is undetermined.
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