Fifteen months after Jamberoo's historic Fredericks Store was burnt to the ground, the rebuilt store has welcomed its first customers.
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Smiles and good wishes abounded on Friday morning as enthusiastic Jamberoo locals checked out their new IGA supermarket, which is double the size of the previous store.
The historic building was destroyed by fire just days before Christmas 2012, but a temporary store was up and running across the road just five days later after a spirited campaign by the Jamberoo community.
In June 2013, police charged an 18-year-old Gerringong teenager with destroying property by fire.
The reconstruction was overseen by Jamberoo builder Phillip Young, with old photographs used to ensure the new structure replicated the original.
The front section of the shop contains the old store's blackbutt timber floorboards, which were painstakingly salvaged and restored following the fire.
Store owner Trevor Fredericks said it was important for Allowrie Street that the new building replicate the appearance of its predecessor, built in the 1880s.
"The store had been part of the streetscape for so long, the street really did look empty when it wasn't there," Mr Fredericks said.
"To put anything else up other than what was there would have been unfair to the street.
"Now the building is finished it looks like it should be there ... it fits in really well, to the point that if you didn't know it had been burnt down it looks like the original shop with an extension."
While the supermarket is now open for business, some finishing touches are still being applied to the building, which will officially open on Saturday, April 12, as part of the Jamberoo Celebrates community event.
On the day Allowrie Street will close for four hours from 9.30am for the street fair, which will include produce stalls, a mini business expo, cake stalls and entertainment, in addition to a photographic and art exhibition.