Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Just two months and one day following the tragic racially motivated mass shooting that claimed the lives of 10 Black people in the East Buffalo community, the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue is set to re-open to the public.
As Thursday marked the two-month anniversary since the shooting, Tops officially dedicated the newly remodeled and renovated store with a ceremony before opening its doors to the assembled media and others at the event.
"The renovation took just under two months. A normal remodel of this caliber would be about five months. It would take about five-to-six months," said President and COO of Tops Friendly Market, John Persons on Thursday. "We were lucky enough that we always have a couple other stores that are under renovation at any given time. So we immediately just diverted all those materials, and honestly all of the trade; all of the construction workers were so wonderful, and we just diverted everything to this location. And honestly we worked around the clock, we worked non-stop. The overarching priority for our company was to re-open as soon as we can to provide services, to provide fresh food to the people in this community."
Not only was it the construction crews helping to work to get the supermarket back up and operational for the community, but even the associates got the chance to chip in with the process. Many associates decided to come back to work on the store during the renovation process, helping to prepare, helping to build, and helping to fill the shelves.
It was a movement from the workers of the store that Persons saw as touching and motivational to get operations back up-and-running despite the tragedy that struck the community on May 14.
"[The associates] call this their house, this is their store. Nobody's going to take it from them," Persons said. "They have so much pride for this store, so much pride and love for each other, and I think that, to me anyways, that serves as a testament that re-opening this store as soon as we could is the right thing to do."
According to Persons, a total of 76% of the associates that were working in this store at the time of the incident are heading back to work once the store opens on Friday. He also adds that another 10% of workers have expressed a desire to come back to work. However, they say they're just not ready to return yet, which is perfectly acceptable for Persons.
"We want our associates to come back to work when they feel ready. So likely, we will have almost all of our associates back to work," he said.
For many of the workers that are slated to come back on Friday when doors re-open to the store, they have made that commitment to remain at the Jefferson Avenue and help serve the community again.
"I've made the commitment since this incident. I've made a commitment to John Persons, Mike Patti and Ron Ferri, I will be the produce manager here until either I retire or die, whichever comes first. And I also made that commitment to the Mayor," said Rose Marie Wysocki during Thursday's event. "I will not be going anywhere, and he's [the shooter] not going to win. He's not. We are Jefferson Strong. We've been saying it, we're a family, and it's just brought us that much more closer together."
"I was never going to leave. Even if the building didn't re-open, I would have went to another Tops," added scan coordinator Jerome Bridges on Thursday. "I'm glad it's built and re-opened, because like I told my store manager, my assistant store manager and the district manager, I told them I'll always have this store's back no matter what. I've had this store's back for the past almost four years now."
As for what the employees think of the renovations and what the store looks like now compared to before the shooting, they see a massive difference, as if it was night and day.
"The amount of effort that's been put in these past couple of months is, honestly, just extraordinary. This place is like home to a great many of people, and I'm glad I can be a part of this," said cashier Jordan Osborne on Thursday.
"It's phenomenal. The place is absolutely gorgeous," Wysocki added. "This is actually my second week back. The first few times coming in were obviously difficult, very difficult, but now a lot of excitement. We're all excited about the new look, the new products we've brought in. We're excited to see the community again. We're excited to see our customers again, and that's really important to us that we get to see them again. It's important to me to see my customers again. I can't wait, I can't wait to see them. I'm just I'm excited. Nervous, but excited."
As for Bridges, he's been going to work at the Tops for the past couple of months, being a part of the process to help bring the store back up again. However, it hasn't been easy for him given what happened on the day he was working at the supermarket.
"Every day I walk in here, bad memories come to mind. But sometimes I have to get over it, or sometimes I have to hold it in until I get home," Bridges admitted. "But I want to be strong in front of my co-workers, so I just hide it, because I don't want them to see me sad, and then they're gonna get sad. So I have to be happy, and I want my co-workers to be happy."
For some of the employees of the Tops on Jefferson Avenue, there may have been some trepidation towards returning to the scene of a tragic mass shooting. However, in the end, they saw it as a need to help the community, at large.
"Initially, I did have some doubts, but then I came to the realization that there were people in this store that day versus me, who I was off. So if people who were in the store that day can still step foot back in here, then maybe I can do that too. So I decided I would do that," Osborne said.
"A lot of evaluation has been taking place with me these past couple of months. ... [This place is] definitely is a source of food, nutrition. Without this store, this neighborhood would be a food desert."
For other employees like Wysocki, she knew right after the incident that the best thing to do was to get back to work.
"It was no matter what happens, I am coming back in this store. This is where I made the commitment back in August, and now I've made a lifetime commitment," she said. "I'm just going to work that much harder and make sure everything stays as beautiful as it is today in 10 years. I might be a little bit older, might even be using a cane, but I'll still be here. I'll still be here."
Leading up to Friday's re-opening, it has been quite the debate in the East Buffalo community whether or not to re-open the Tops or to keep it closed and make it a permanent memorial site for the 10 victims of a racially motivated crime.
Although there will be people that continue to clamor for the store to have never opened its doors again, the employees know just how important the supermarket is to that neighborhood along Jefferson Avenue.
"It took them 20 years to get this store here. They've been here, I believe, 19-20 years. It takes years to find a new location, to get the approval to be at that location, to do the ground testing, to do the construction. It takes years. This community cannot wait years to have their fresh products brought back to them," Wysocki said. "Their fresh produce, their delicious fried chicken. They can't wait that long. How would you like to go without fresh fruits and vegetables, and everything that is convenient for you? Many of our guests walk to this store. They need this store. That's why we decided we're coming back, because we made a commitment to them and they made a commitment to us. So here we are, standing proud, ready to re-open those doors and welcome everybody else back."
As for Bridges, he does his best to try and shut out the negative that comes from people about the store re-opening. He's also aware that a number of the people clamoring for the store to remain closed are not even from East Buffalo and around the store on Jefferson Avenue.
"You've got to think about what the people that actually live in this neighborhood, live in this community have got to say," Bridges said. "There's a lot of people around here that want this store to re-open, and I mean there's a lot. They're getting tired of going five, six miles just to go grocery shopping. I even get tired. I get tired to riding on that bus. So tomorrow when the store's open, I'm gonna do my first grocery shopping in the store for the first time."
