Resident and visiting shoppers stood shoulder to shoulder at the Pusser's fire sale in Cruz Bay Tuesday.
Laid out on long tables bordering a restored stone house were piles of merchandise salvaged from the Dec. 28 fire at the Pusser's Company Store in Wharfside Village. Traces and smells of smoke were still evident on the terrycloth crew shirts and a flowered dress hanging from a corner hat rack.
The blaze destroyed the Pusser's Restaurant office on the second floor of the shopping center; the nearby Company Store suffered extensive smoke and water damage.
Store manager Ruth Lettsome said sales have been brisk since the "fire sale" signs were first put up three days ago. "We've been getting a lot of business from the road," she said as passersby stopped, looked and stepped up to shop.
Lettsome said she and her workers began salvaging efforts as soon as they could get to the goods. In the days after the fire, clothing items from the store could be seen hanging from Wharfside's second-floor railing. "They've been washing well," she said.
For those willing to do their own washing and take a chance on the outcome, bargains were abundant. Dresses once tagged $80 were marked down to $19.99. Shirts formerly $50 bore similar price chops. Fast sellers included underwear, spices and Pusser's old-fashioned, oversized enamel mugs. Most of the merchandise bore the familiar Pusser's coat of arms emblem.
Kathy Ireton, a snowbird from Cincinnati, stopped to admire the stone jugs and scrimshaw on a table. "I had originally come out to buy a raincoat," she said. "They have some very nice bottles and boxes and some great shirts."
Lettsome said most of the merchandise that doesn't sell will be sent to Pusser's discount outlet on St. Thomas.
