After an arson incident last month left the store needing a complete remodel, the Mountain View Co-op in Ulm is now reopen to serve the community once again.
On the morning of February 10th, emergency services responded to a break in at the store, discovering a suspect on the roof of the building.
According to court documents, the suspect rolled his car near the store, broke in using a fire extinguisher, lit a rug on fire, and poured propane and lighter fluid from the store shelves to erupt the flames.
The suspect then broke a second story window and climbed out to the roof. The Ulm and Gore Hill Fire Departments put out the fire, and no injuries were reported.
The 32-year old suspect, identified as Ryan Paul Siders, was charged with four counts of criminal mischief, driving under the influence, criminal trespass, burglary, and arson. He has since posted bail.
The manager at the Mountain View Co-op in Ulm, Jasmin Nguyen, says, “When people do things like this, they're not just tearing down one person, or one set of staff. They’re tearing down a whole community.”
The Mountain View Co-op is the only convenience store in town, and it’s closure had a huge impact on daily life in the community. Nguyen explains, “They rely on this place. They rely on getting gas. They rely on getting the items that they need, that they can't run to town for. There’s people that don’t own vehicles out here. So this is their stop, this is where they need to go to get things that they need for daily life.”
While the gas pumps remained open, the store itself was closed for 4 weeks, undergoing a complete remodel of the two story building. All merchandise in the store had to be thrown out and replaced due to smoke damages costing the store hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. After the remodel, the staff worked tirelessly to get the store reopened and fully stocked as quickly as possible.
Nicholas Parks, the Day Supervisor at the Ulm location explains the relationship the store has with their customers, “For the community, it’s their morning coffee for their morning commute. You're either going to work or dropping off the kids, and just you know, seeing our friendly faces every single morning. It's like a friends and family community out here, everyone knows everyone.”
One customer, Tony Formell, says, “Having this store closed for a couple of weeks was really kind of a pain. Most people that live out here, it’s their daily stop every morning, every evening on the way home, and not having it changed routines. It made things a little more difficult. Having it back open is just wonderful.”
With a few minor repairs still left to complete, the Mountain View Co-op store in Ulm has now reopened, and is once again a staple in the community.
