By Matti Pennington | Reporter
A third-floor pipe burst flooded Spice Village, Roots Boutique, Oh My Juice, Olive Branch and Crickets last month during Winter Storm Uri. The damage has caused the stores to move locations, fully close, move online or have pop-up events while the damages are being repaired.
“The day that it happened they called Target [Solutions], a company in Waco, and they have been doing a great job,” owner of Roots Boutique Brooke Erbe said. “They had to suck up all the water for a day and a half, then they had fans blowing in here to dry everything out for about another two weeks.”
Spice Village is having a pop-up event at a temporary location while they continue to dry out their building.
“After 25 days, we are here at 924 Austin Ave in our pop-up Spice Village and we are so grateful,” @spicevillage on Instagram said.
Roots is currently closed and is looking to have a pop-up of all the merchandise that wasn’t damaged due to water.
“About 50 percent of our merch got damaged,” Erbe said. “Hopefully by the end of March we will have a temporary location to continue selling and then we will get to reopen at our original location early May.”
Right now, Roots is open online for purchases and will be offering free delivery to Waco customers. Erbe said to check Instagram for updates.
“We are taking this opportunity to make changes in the store,” Erbe said. “We are doing new dressing rooms and some new décor. I am so excited about all the new changes. We are taking our circumstances and making them good by coming back with lots of upgrades.”
Oh My Juice was available at the Waco Farmer’s Market this past weekend.
“I’m really sad about Oh My Juice being closed because I really enjoy going there for a study break and feeling healthy,” Keller junior Sophia Donahue said. “I have been checking their Instagram to see where they are doing pop-ups while they fix their store damages.”
The Olive Branch is temporarily closed for in-store dining while they are working on storm damage repairs. While they are waiting to reopen they are making changes to their menu. The Olive Branch is announcing any updates to their Facebook Page.
Crickets reopened last weekend. Because of where it is located in the building, only half of it flooded, so the restaurant was able make repairs and reopen faster than its neighbors.
