Norman Business Reopens a Year after Fire

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- A family owned business re-emerges from the ashes one year after their tire store in Goldsby went up in flames.

LWM Enterprises is no longer in Goldsby. The family owned tire store is now in Norman. They opened their doors Thursday, exactly one year after the fire.

"It was a nightmare," Larry Moore said. "You just don't expect that."

Larry and Jaquita Moore were told it was an electrical fire. But all they could see was thick, black smoke and flames.

"I was in shock and it goes through you mind, ‘What are we going to do?'" Larry said.

"It was our life to see it go up in smoke, it was our life," Jaquita said. "W bounced back and it's going to be fine."

But the transition was hard financially and emotionally. The couple decided to move the business to a Norman location.

"We had to find a new place to go and found this one by luck," Larry said.

Even though everything is still finding its place, Larry was determined to open a year after the fire.

"Within the last month I started thinking about it and said I'm going to try open back up today," Larry said.

There is already plenty of work to be done. Loyal customers need new tires and the Moores are hoping to build upon what they started in Goldsby.

"We've had some customers in today and in about two weeks we're going to have a grand opening; this is just a soft opening," Jaquita said.

The couple says after the fire, they had to sell their home and live off the equity. Even though it's been a year since the fire, they are still struggling with the insurance company to get the rest of their settlement money.

The Moore's tire store wasn't the only business destroyed by that fire. It claimed two other businesses.