BALTIMORE — Just four months after celebrating their ribbon cutting, Chopped Broadway Bodega & Deli is fighting to keep its doors open.
In late August a fire broke out inside a third-floor apartment above the business.
Co-owner Ernestine Chambers feared the worst when she checked the security cameras.
“I see the entire fire department going up with ladders,” Chambers said. “I’m thinking the building is gone, everything is up in flames.”
Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the deli was shut down for the weekend.
“The fire kind of set us back,” Chambers said. “But it didn’t kill us.”
MORE: From Brooklyn to Baltimore — Chopped Broadway Bodega & Deli delivers a taste of NYC
Just one week later, another disaster struck. Tenants on the second floor overfilled a bathtub, causing water to pour into the store.
“It was raining in my store,” Chambers said. “Water was coming from the ceilings. I stood behind the register and I could hear a wave of water come down. I ran, and the ceiling completely collapsed. It sounded like I was at a Six Flags wave pool.”
The flooding destroyed equipment, damaged lights, ruined products and even soaked cards, keepsakes and certificates from the community.
While the store has been closed to the public, the bodega is setting up carry-out and mobile orders while repairs are underway.
“We poured all of our money into the store and then watched it just go in one moment,” Chambers said.
Despite having insurance, Chambers is concerned she’ll be left paying most of the costs out of pocket.
She says the building’s landlord never installed a subfloor, leaving insurance companies to figure out who is responsible.
“I started looking at options to pull from my retirement at this point,” she said.
The uncertainty weighs heavily on Chambers because of the staff she employs.
“Most of my staff are either foster care youth, homeless youth,” Chambers said. “We wanted to give jobs to people who, with the right opportunity and the right mentorship, would actually thrive.”
One of those employees is Jisear Martinez Williams, who started working at the deli as a high school senior.
“I was practically homeless. I didn’t have a place to stay, so as soon as I secured this job, it was just a big relief off my shoulders,” he said.
Williams says the job allowed him to save up for his first apartment.
“I’m alone. I don’t have any family in Baltimore,” Williams said. “If I didn’t have this job, it’s my only thing. I don’t know where I’d go. So like really it's more like this is my mother and I'm just working for my mom right now."
Chambers says that’s why closing isn’t an option. Her father, who helped build the bodega, is now helping her rebuild again.
“If we close, it’s not just our business that failed,” she said. “We put these kids at a greater disadvantage, because we gave them hope, only to take it right away.”
