Crime & Safety

Samantha Drew to Reopen Following Fire

Interior design shop closed for more than four months due to a roof fire in June.

Samantha Drew Interiors is set to reopen Tuesday at 10 a.m., the culmination of more than four months of cleaning, renovating, and restocking after a fire caused extensive damage to the store and its contents.

While the cause of the was not immediately known, it was eventually determined that work being done to the roof of the building at the time caused it to catch fire, according to store owner Michelle Mancuso.

Fire marshals told her the fire got caught between the old tin ceiling of the store and the roof of the building. The part of the tin ceiling that was destroyed has been replaced by sheetrock painted to complement the look of the rest of the store.

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"The fire departments were amazing," Mancuso said in an interview Monday. "They really were very respectful, period. They did a nice job of protecting the integrity of this old building."

She initially sought to reopen the store in September, but as the cleanup progressed, it soon became apparent that wouldn't be the case. Instead, her staff worked toward a Nov. 1 reopening – a date that made sense for marketing purposes, too, since the holiday season is approaching.

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The new store has a more neutral palette to it, with hues of creams and grays throughout. It features a little more local flavor, with Long Island artwork, framed maps, driftwood, and more. What used to be a storage room became a bigger work area for clients and staff to collaborate on design projects. Mancuso has also added more vintage and one-of-a-kind pieces, a pewter line of home accents, and a four-poster bed displayed with layers of textures – which is "super hot in design right now," she said.

Closing for more than four months represented "an enormous loss," Mancuso said. Clients couldn't come in to work with fabric samples, paint colors, wood samples. And everything in the store had to be replaced.

"We were not able to retain any part of our business because cleaning up took up all of our time," Mancuso said. "All of our projects, unless you were under construction, were put on hold."

But over the past few months Mancuso and her team also saw an outpouring of support from their clients, who would often stop by with flowers or cookies or words of encouragement.

"It's been really unbelievable, the community support that we've had," Mancuso said. "We're back and we're so excited."


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