'We suffered a devastating loss.' Snow Shoe businesses closed after early morning fire

Feb. 25--SNOW SHOE -- Hall's Market, a family-owned business that has served Snow Shoe for more than 100 years, is closed for an unspecified period of time after a Tuesday morning electrical fire desolated the store.

True Value, Subway and Jersey Shore State Bank -- which all either share or are connected to 491 E. Sycamore Road -- are also closed for an unspecified period of time.

The market, known to Mountaintop residents as "Hall's Mall" because of its many offerings, wrote it "suffered a devastating loss" in a Facebook post.

"I don't know how to act. I'm used to coming in here six days a week, 11 hours a day and starting at 5 a.m.," fourth-generation co-owner Troy Hall said Tuesday at the store. "Maybe tomorrow morning, when I don't have to get up at 4 o'clock and come in here, something might sink in. I don't know."

The blaze at the supermarket, hardware store and deli started about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Snow Shoe Fire Company Chief Beau Martin said. Firefighters from about seven departments had the fire under control about 3 a.m., he said.

Nobody was injured or inside the building during the fire, Martin said.

The fire began in an electric subpanel at the store's service desk and spread throughout the front end of the store, Hall said.

"The heat melted everything plastic in the store. Everything melted off the walls," Hall said. "The drywall is all shot. It's just bad."

Three cleaning companies visited the store by Tuesday afternoon, while the store's insurance agency plans to remove everything from the store before determining how to move forward, Hall said.

"It's probably going to be a total loss," Martin said. "There was a lot of heat and smoke damage throughout the entire store. I wouldn't be afraid to say that all the contents in it are probably a total loss."

East Sycamore Road was fully closed for nearly three hours. Pine Glen, Milesburg, Undine, Pleasant Gap, Howard and Morrisdale fire departments also responded, Martin said.

"I wanted to thank your staff and all of our emergency responders during the fire last night at Hall's Supermarket in Snow Shoe -- a very important institution up there, a pillar of the community," Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins told county Emergency Communications Director Dale Neff during Tuesday's commissioner's meeting. "Hopefully, they'll be back and open in the near future."

The fire was the third major structure fire this year in the Mountaintop Region.

Firefighters from at least three different counties responded in January to a fully involved fire at Snow Shoe Refractories.

Crews also responded earlier this month to a barn fire along Viehdorfer Road in Burnside Township.

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