DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Davenport-based Mexican grocery store and restaurant Abarrotes Carrillo re-opened their grocery store doors after it was closed for seven months due to a fire that nearly destroyed their building back in December 2021.
"It was a really old building with really old construction. In our kitchen, you know, there was just a structure that wasn't enough for the volume on the equipment that we had," Store Manager, Miguel Carrillo said in regards to the fire.
The grocery store and restaurant are both family-owned and employed. Miguel said that the seven-month period was the longest he had gone without working at the shop since he started in 2010.
"I mean it was something new because we never had the downtime. So you know other times we felt like we're going crazy just sitting at home for a bit"
Abarrotes Carrillo's grocery portion is back up and running, but the restaurant portion is still closed.
"Blood, sweat and tears with our family. You know, that's exactly the story of what happened here," Miguel credited his family. "From our loss to rebuilding into, you know, the hard work put into everything. It's really, you know, a very tight-knit family."
He also credits community support.
"We would see people at random places say, 'how are you doing? How are things going?' Everyone messaged in our Facebook account, 'Hey, I hope you guys are doing great hope to see you guys soon.' So we've got a lot of support on the way, a lot of moral support. That continued to motivate us through the construction projects and make us try to be as quick as we can."
Their restaurant portion will reopen Friday, July 8.