To Holly Keller-Ross, Jan. 24 was a work day like any other. The coowner of Past to Present Marketplace at 7 W. Main, in Shawnee, was decorating her display windows for Valentine’s Day. As she stood in the windows hanging hearts, she recognized a woman with a child, who was leaving the Boomarang Diner, next door to the west.
As demolition began on the building to her east, Keller-Ross saw a look of fear come across the lady’s face.
“She grabs the kid and takes off running, and then, the whole wall or the top part of the wall next door came crumbling down, and it was insane, like it was crazy,” said Keller-Ross. “It was like slow motion. And then, right in front of me, the window that I was standing in … expanded and contracted right in front of my eyes. It was something out of a movie, like I can’t even explain it.”
Then, when she tried to go outside, she couldn’t get the doorknob to work. At that point, she said, an employee from the restaurant came over to check on her.
“He helped me get it open,” said Keller-Ross. “And I went out, checked things out, ‘Hey, everything’s good. I’m gonna go back in, do my thing, and keep busy.’ I had no idea. I still at that point, had no idea that my store or me or anybody was in danger.”
Apparently, the Boomarang was having similar problems with their door, said Keller-Ross, and after helping a customer, everyone was evacuated by the city authorities.
After she left, Keller-Ross received a text saying the inside wall in her store had collapsed.
“I don’t really know exactly what happened because I left after the front of next door collapsed, and all I know is four hours later, I had no store,” she said.
Keller-Ross had been assured that her building would not be damaged when the former Gibson’s Discount Center at 1 W. Main was demolished by Tomahawk Construction Solu-tions, out of Purcell.
“I was so certain that this company knew what he was doing, and I still believe it’s an accident,” she said. “I don’t think the right steps were taken before he did the demo, but I believe that he honestly didn’t do this on purpose.”
Tomahawk owner Zack Burks responded to questions on Messenger saying, “Thank you for your interest. But we are currently doing everything we can to get everything resolved.”
Both Burks and members of the City of Shawnee Code Enforcement department had inspected the Past to Present building and the Gibson’s building at least three times, according to co-owner Tammy Alexander.
She believes that the collapse of the front half of their two-story, 3,000-square-foot building had something to do with a metal beam by the cash register area. She agrees with Keller-Ross that there is no anger toward the demolition company.
Speaking about the bulldozer driver, Alexander said, “He’s so nice. And I just hate that this has happened to him. It wasn’t his fault.”
According to the City of Shawnee’s Demolition Permit Application on their website, any demolition company wishing to take a building down “must be insured, bonded and licensed with the City of Shawnee.”
However, the variety store with nearly 30 vendor booths, only carried liability insurance, which covered injury accidents and damage to surrounding buildings.
“That’s all we could afford at the time,” said Alexander. “We were saving money to do our roof, and we just got through doing our roof, just about three months ago.”
With 10 rooms upstairs just used for storage, Alexander said they were hoping to someday add an elevator and offer booths in the second story, as well.
When Alexander inherited the building from friends, it included the Gibson’s building, which was then called Ole Shawnee Town Flea Market. But there was a hole in the ceiling, which she couldn’t afford to fix.
That same hole was a problem for its current owner, as well, and after being fined by the City several times, he agreed to have it razed.
According to a post on flickr.com by Charles Hathaway and en.wikipedia. org, Gibson’s Discount Center operated in Shawnee from 1964 to 1983, but the building was much older. Keller-Ross said the party wall was built in 1897.
On the morning of the demolition, Alexander and her husband, Jeff, were worrying about another hole which was made by the bulldozer driver at the back of their building. Alexander said they also let Keller-Ross into the building, and later Jeff Alexander returned to the site to help Keller-Ross lock the door.
Both store owners said they loved their business, especially their vendors and customers, and feel “lost” and “ devastated” without it.
“I loved what I did. So, I mean, every day was something different, even though it was the same,” said Keller-Ross, a former retail pharmacy technician at K-Mart.
“I’m more lost today than I was the day I lost my building,” she said. “… This whole thing is just crazy. I’m displaced. … When I left there that day, I still had four walls and counted on opening in a few days. … So it’s not even real to me yet.”
Keller-Ross bought into the business with Alexander in 2019. Alexander had other business partners before, but said, “I got Holly, and that was the best thing that ever happened.”
“That business was a big part of my life. I mean, I have worked ... self-employed for all my life,” said Alexander. “ … The store was a part of me. I mean, I worked for a year in there, cleaning and painting and you know, doing everything we could, raking up money, borrowing money to put into the store.”
Alexander is awaiting back surgery and lost her mother and cousin in recent years.
Items from her late cousin were being stored upstairs in their store.
To make matters worse, since the demolition, Past to Present Marketplace has been looted, with no storefront on the building.
Keller-Ross said she is getting no answers from the City, the demolition company, or the police. So, with no other income, she has set up at Pappa Grape, 723 E. Main, where she can continue as a vendor and sell on weekly online auctions, such as “Your Favorite Weekly Auction Group” on Facebook.
Friend and customer, Summer Heffley, has also set up a Go-FundMe account for Keller-Ross and Alexander called “The Fall of Past to Present Marketplace.” As of Feb.15, the account had $500.
“These ladies will bend over backwards to help a stranger, and now they need a little help themselves,” Heffley states on the site.
Since the day of the demolition, the block of Main Street between Broadway Avenue and Beard Street has been closed, with sidewalks on the northern side of the street remaining open. But the block will now be open to traffic, according to a City of Shawnee press release.
“The sidewalk and adjacent parking on the south side of the roadway remain blocked,” stated the press release from City Manager Andrea Weckmueller-Behringer.
“Due to the collapse of 1 W. and 7 W. Main Street, and the need to keep the public safe, the City of Shawnee temporarily closed Main Street from Broadway Avenue to Beard Street to allow structural engineers to evaluate the affected buildings.”
“Necessary future demolition requires the continued blockage of the affected buildings, parking, and sidewalks on the south side of Main Street for an undetermined amount of time.”
The Boomarang Diner also remains closed. Dee Graves, attorney for the corporation, said the building sustained “significant damage” and is being assessed by engineers.
“We are doing our best to get that location open as soon as it is safe to do so,” said Graves. “We know people there are missing us.”
A post on t h e Boomarang Diner Facebook page from owners Ron and Steve Degraffenreid stated, “We are committed to rebuilding, we just are not sure what that looks like yet.”
Meanwhile, they at least have the option to direct customers to visit their 52 other locations around the state.
Questions were sent by email to the City Manager, Building Inspector Kenny Wiseman, and Shawnee Mayor Ed Bolt to which no response has been given.
