Southern Manitoba town loses only grocery store in fire

An early-morning fire has destroyed the only grocery store in a small southern Manitoba town.

The Marchand Grocery went up in flames Monday night.

Tara Nault owns and lives at the Marchand Inn across the street from the store. She said she woke up in the middle of the night to see fire crews battling intense flames, but by Tuesday morning the building was "just a smoldering heap of rubble."

La Broquerie’s fire chief Alain Nadeau said even though the store couldn’t be saved, crews managed to contain the fire before it spread to nearby gas and propane tanks.

"We had the natural gas meter we had to watch, a pump gas tank in front, and we also had a bunch of propane tanks that are for sale at the store all the time," said Nadeau.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but local fire officials said there are early indications it could have been electrical.

Now, people who live in Marchand will have to drive 20 minutes to La Broquerie to get gas or groceries.

Nault said the man who owned the store hadn’t had it for long and had put a lot of work into updating the store. Now, according to Nault, there’s nothing left.

TheOffice of the Fire Commissioner has pegged the damage at about $300,000.

Marchand is about 85 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.