February 2nd, 2023, smoke started to come into Janzen's Paint and Decorating Ltd (JPDL) in Winkler, a business established by Doug Janzen in 1992. Customers and staff were quickly evacuated, and the city watched the anchor business burn to the ground. It was the second fire for the company, which grew from the original Winkler store to five locations across Manitoba, Brandon, Portage, Steinbach, and Winnipeg. The Steinbach location burned to the ground in July of 2022, less than a year before. A year before that, in 2021, Owner Doug Janzen died in a motorcycle accident. The chain is now owned by Janzen's widow, Constance.
Sandy Demke worked closely with Janzen for many years and was appointed the General Manager.
She recalls the day after the fire and the year that followed.
"Looking at the rubble that was lying there and thinking, 'Oh my gosh, where do you start?' But you learn to depend on people and the community. You think back and I think, 'How in the world did we get to where we are now?' It's amazing. Part of it is the great staff that we have here and have all stuck it out. They've all stayed and been amazing because it's not normal. Some of them are doing things they weren't hired to do. Everyone has stepped up to the plate."
Moving forward started with a question Demke asked herself, "What would Doug do?" So, on the very first day, following the fire, the staff met in the warehouse, not burned in the fire, and brought their ideas and have worked every day since.
She said it was a challenge to keep everyone busy, but each day they showed up to work and did something.
Soon after, Janzen's was offered space by Rempel Excavating on George Ave in Winkler where they have set up shop and recently, with the Christmas season approaching, expanded across the street to offer more.
"It was a chance, 'Do we, do it? Or don't we, do it?' but we needed it to do something for Christmas, for the Christmas season. What we had in the store, it was very minimal, and it was not going to be sufficient."
The second location was inspired by the late Doug Janzen and people are pleased.
"And basically, a lot of the stock we have on the shelves, was what we had in our store previously. I kind of thought how Doug would shop for Christmas and that's what we did. People were amazed. I think a lot of them were like, 'Wow!'"
Puzzles, games and toys can be found in the second location with lots to choose from.
Looking forward into 2024, Demke is pleased with the progress being made on rebuilding the store in the former location on Centennial Street.
"I think seeing some movement on the site there is going to be huge for our staff." adding it was a big lift when the concrete was recently poured, and the walls are going up this week.
While they are making do in their present location, Demke is looking forward to moving into the location, hopefully by summer of 2024.
"Now we're kind of split up. Our warehouses are split up and we're running around the lot. So, I think everybody to be under one roof again, make everybody's job a little bit easier."
She reiterated her gratitude for the generosity of the community to help them during this time and those who are supporting them.
She holds onto the memory of having the staff dig through the rubble after the embers had cooled and each one found something that had survived.
"It was huge. I mean, the excitement, 'Ohh look! Look!' You would think there wouldn't be anything that survived and there was. Fire does not destroy absolutely everything."
She remarked that the human spirit remained in the staff and having a place to go each day, keeps it alive, as they work hard to rebuild in 2024.