New video shows extensive damage from fire that destroyed Bed-Stuy grocery store
Flames broke out inside Taqwa Grocery and Meat Market on Fulton Street around 5:30 a.m., spreading to the two floors above, according to officials. No injuries were reported.
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A fire tore through a popular grocery store in Bedford-Stuyvesant early Monday morning, destroying the business and displacing residents above.
Flames broke out inside Taqwa Grocery and Meat Market on Fulton Street around 5:30 a.m., spreading to the two floors above, according to officials. No injuries were reported.
But the damage was extensive, leaving the store gutted and the owner devastated.
“Feeling is no good...a lot of money I spend here,” Ali, the store’s owner, told News 12.
He said he and his brother had poured everything into the business over the past several years.
“Business was good, but now everything is gone,” he said.
A halal restaurant attached to the back of the building was also destroyed.
Images from inside the store show severe fire damage, with much of the interior burned.
The grocery store was a staple in the neighborhood’s Muslim community, and its loss is being felt widely.
“This store is very famous, very popular. Everybody knows it, especially in Bed-Stuy. It’s always busy,” said Walid Hassan Khan, a friend of the owner.
Residents said the loss hit especially hard because the store was one of only two nearby locations selling halal meat, putting added pressure on the remaining business during the final days of Ramadan, when demand is typically high.
“We try our best to give people what they need, but we’re really going to miss them,” said another local store owner.
The city’s Department of Buildings has deemed the structure unsafe and ordered it vacated.
