CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County business owner is working to rebuild after her smoke shop was completely destroyed in an early morning fire on Friday.
Genese Chrispin says she received a call from Clayton County Fire around 1 a.m. notifying her of a fire at her CBD store located off State Highway 85 in Jonesboro. She said her business, along with a neighboring dry cleaners, was completely destroyed in the blaze.
“I haven’t slept since one o’clock. I’ve been up for 24 hours since I got the call from Clayton County,” Chrispin said.
The fire caused significant damage to the roof, leading portions of it to collapse over both businesses. Chrispin estimates she lost over $150,000 worth of merchandise in the fire.
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“All I was told by a Clayton County officer is that it was probably faulty equipment or something like that from the cleaners that started this,” Chrispin explained.
She said she had operated at that location for seven years and had never heard of any previous fires in the strip mall.
By Saturday afternoon, customers were still arriving at the site, unaware of what had happened.
“I was coming to pick up my dry cleaning,” one customer said.
Chrispin says it’s still unclear whether her insurance or the strip mall owner’s insurance will cover the damage. In the meantime, she is working to determine the next steps for her business and has launched a GoFundMe campaign to try to recover some of her losses.
Channel 2’s Brittany Kleinpeter reached out to Clayton County Fire for an update on the investigation. As of Saturday afternoon, she was still awaiting a response.
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