Florida Rug Store Faces Major Restoration Problem

Tampa, FL, June 29, 2007--As part of its business, Shiraz Oriental Rug Gallery regularly restores damaged rugs, according the Tampa Tribune.

But after a fire Wednesday inside the Tampa store, the newspaper reported that the gallery faces one of its biggest projects: restoring 180 rugs damaged by smoke and water, some of them valued at $10,000.

"All we can do is dry them out and see what was done," said Ala Falasiri, Shiraz's president.

A day after the fire, the pungent smell of smoke lingered inside the store. Workers mopped up puddles left by the sprinkler system. Parts of the beige hallway were black with soot.

Falasiri said he was on the phone at about 11 a.m. Wednesday when his line went dead. As he went to check the problem, he noticed smoke pouring through an air-conditioning vent in the hallway.

Tampa firefighters reached the scene and put out the fire in about 20 minutes. But smoke and water from a sprinkler system had already reached some of Shiraz's rugs, which were stored inside a warehouse across from the main showroom.

Falasiri said the damaged rugs range in price from $2,000 to $10,000 and have been moved into a building on Kennedy Boulevard, where Shiraz is in the process of opening another store.

In total, the building suffered $800,000 in damage, Tampa fire inspectors said. A sprinkler system helped contain the fire to the electrical closet where it started, sparing more than 1,500 rugs that were stored in a nearby room. The sprinkler also damaged furniture from the Pine Shop that was being kept in the building.

Falasiri started the business, at MacDill Avenue and Bay to Bay Boulevard, with his brother Majdi. The two grew up in Iran and came to the United States in the '70s. They opened their first store, the Shiraz in Tampa, in 1986.

The Tampa building was remodeled three years ago. Nelson Montgomery, Tampa's chief electrical inspector, said that although the electrical wires inside Shiraz were not updated during the remodeling, they met the city's electrical codes at the time they were installed.

The store reopened for business Thursday, but in between helping customers, Falasiri fielded phone calls from worried friends and handled visits from fire inspectors and insurance agents.

He said he's thankful the fire didn't reach the store's main showroom, where rugs valued as much as $30,000 are displayed.

As far as the damaged rugs, he said it could take anywhere from a week to a year to restore them, depending on how badly each was damaged.

"It happened so fast, but what can you do?" Falasiri said. "We've just got to try to reorganize and get things taken care of."