Crime & Safety

Fire Destroys St. Louis Park Convenience Store

Multiple fire departments arrived on scene early Thursday to fight the flames.

A fire completely engulfed and destroyed an empty St. Louis Park convenience store early Thursday morning and damaged several nearby vacant properties.

No injuries have been reported.

Crews from around the west metro were called at around 6 a.m. to Yes Mart, which is part of the Texa-Tonka Shopping Center in the 8000 block of Minnetonka Boulevard. Firefighters arrived at 6:10 a.m. and found the building engulfed in flames, city public information officer Jamie Zwilling said.

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Firefighters were able to knock down the fire within minutes, but the damage was done. As of around 9 a.m., crews were still on scene, sifting through wreckage and pulling large chunks of wood and metal away from what remained of the building. Zwilling also said there was still a small fire burning within the store that firefighters were dealing with.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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Taher Ibrahim, the owner of Yes Mart, said he received a call from his alarm company at 6:08 a.m. about the fire. He added that the store usually opens at 7 a.m., so no one was inside.

Standing near the rubble, Ibrahim said the damage was “terrible” and he expected it to take at least three months to reopen the convenience store. The owner said he does have insurance for the shop, which he has owned since 2003. The building was a convenience store under different ownership before that.

Ibrahim added that he doesn’t yet know a dollar amount for the damage, but said “it’s a lot.”

Darrell Mitchell lives a few blocks away on Rhode Island Avenue and said he is a regular, early morning customer at Yes Mart, typically stopping in right around 7 a.m. for a cup of coffee and to chat with Ibrahim. He said he heard the sirens early Thursday and came to see what had happened.

“I’ve been coming up here all my life,” Mitchell said. “It’s a loss for the neighborhood.”


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