VALDOSTA — Watching a smoke plume come from downtown, while driving a mile away on Baytree Road, David Brooks Jr. knew this couldn’t be good.

The Valdosta Furniture and Mattress owner was spending time with family Saturday night, Dec. 22, when he received a text about his business on fire. Brooks said he couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“Your place on fire?” asked Amy Cox, owner of Covington’s restaurant, another downtown business, in a text message.

Not even a minute later, he received a phone call from the fire department. His worst suspicions were confirmed.

When he arrived at the scene of Valdosta Furniture and Mattress, he joined a crowd across the street and watched as fire destroyed it all — a business his father, David Brooks Sr., started in 1978, the business the younger Brooks took over in 1997.

“As we got closer, we could actually see the flames, so then we really knew it wasn’t going to be good,” Brooks said. “We come and stood across the street like everyone else and literally watched this fire burn.”

Fire turned the one-story portion of the business into ruins, whereas the second-story building suffered from fire and smoke damage.

Rubble, shattered glass and debris lay behind caution tape where the 40-year-old business once stood on Central Avenue.

Even two weeks after the fire, the destruction leaks onto the sidewalk along Central Avenue and the insides of both buildings smell like a barbecue smoker.

Still, Brooks has been there almost every day to handle business.

Back in Business

Brooks has no storefront and said he may not have a space for at least another six months.

However, he’s still delivering and completing orders.

“For people that we do have stuff on order for, they’re going to get their stuff,” he said. “Nothing is changing in that regard. I want to give people a peace of mind in knowing that.”

Brooks originally made this announcement on the business’ Facebook page stating delivery trucks are coming with furniture daily and customers “always come first.”

He said he wouldn’t have been able to run his operation post-fire without his seven employees who have helped get people their furniture.

He said he’s doing what he can to keep them employed because he’ll need them when they get back to working under a roof.

“That’s a goal to try to keep them here,” Brooks said. “I don’t want to lose them for when we do come back, and also they need to eat. We’re going to take care of them as best as we can.”

A long-time customer driving a blue pickup pulled up to the curb of the burned-down business where Brooks was waiting for those delivery trucks full of furniture.

“When’s my store coming back?” the customer asked Brooks — half joking, half concerned — before he expressed sincere condolences to the owner.

Brooks said he’s experienced similar exchanges often since the fire.

Even without a storefront, Brooks said he plans to stay in business as best he can.

Customers can’t try out furniture inside the store, but his regulars will find comfort in knowing they can still order — and he will still deliver — custom furniture.

If he had to pause business matters, the already-tragic incident would have been much different for Brooks.

After all, the business is his normal routine, even his life.

“You get up, shower and go into work,” Brooks said. “I’m still working, but obviously it’s a lot different. The first day I came back, I always park in a parking spot behind the store. I pulled in and realized I can’t even go in there. It’s just little things like that.”

Moving Forward

Brooks is ready to get his brick-and-mortar up and running again, but he’s prepared for rebuilding to take some time.

A staple of Downtown Valdosta for more than 40 years, the store has played a huge role in bringing other vital businesses to downtown, said Rachel Thrasher of Valdosta Main Street.

“They were one of the first people to invest in downtown and see the vision,” Thrasher said. “It’s part of the backbone of Downtown Valdosta.”

Brooks is waiting on the results of an asbestos test, which should return any day now. Upon receiving the test results, the Valdosta Fire Department can further investigate the fire.

Fire Marshal James Clinkscales said fire officials have not gone through the building or announced any causes just yet out of safety precautions. 

“I don’t want to say what theory we have because we want to cross our t’s and dot our i’s,” Clinkscales said. “We should have an answer by mid-week.”

Then, Brooks can move onto reopening his store and work with his insurance company to figure out what’s next.

He said it could be six months until his business reopens, maybe even longer.

Even then, his store won’t be the same. 

He will no longer have the smaller one-story building, but the fire department saved the historic two-story building that has been part of his family business since it opened.

“I’m just so incredibly thankful and grateful (the fire department was) able to save that,” Brooks said. “There hasn’t been a structural engineer look at it, but as far as we know, it will be salvageable.”

It has been a long two weeks for Brooks, and it will be an even longer half of a year.

He keeps his energy up, though, because of the community’s support.

“I’ve received all of the encouragement that you could imagine,” Brooks said. “It’s awesome. People keep asking me what they can do, and I don’t really know how to answer that. There’s so much that’s up in the air right now.”

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.