After a fire engulfed Accessory Superstore this past December, owner Bryce McCallum has struggled to keep his business up and running.

With a crew of three, including himself, McCallum has been working for about two months out of a temporary shop set behind what will be his new building, now under construction.

“Nobody thinks we are here,” said McCallum. “Unless people drive by, they don’t see it.”

The main shop was declared a total loss after the blaze late last year.

DRC/Al Key

Accessory Superstore, owned by Bryce McCallum and his family, has been operating out of a small trailer, shown in the background, while their main building is being rebuilt.

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The building did not have a sprinkler system, and by the time firefighters arrived, it was completely engulfed in flames. Damage to the shop was estimated at $500,000, according to records.

“The next day [after the fire], we started moving out to save what we could,” said employee Brent Syr. “It [the building] had water damage and smoke damage.”

McCallum said the fire started in the southeast corner of the downstairs floor and took over the rest of the building.

McCallum said he assumed the fire was electrical and knew for sure that the fire was not caused by a heater left in the store to keep chemicals warm, as preliminary reports stated. He did not believe the fire was intentional, but that it was just something that had occurred by accident.

Denton Fire Marshal Rick Jones said in January that the fire began under a wooden mezzanine that was used for storage in a bay at the northeast corner of the building.

Fire Capt. Quentin Brown said Monday that the department stood by its earlier determination and would not comment further.

“The case is still open,” Brown said. “A private firm is investigating the case.”

Since the blaze, Accessory Superstore has lost three employees.

Patty McCallum, Bryce McCallum’s wife, said that they lost the employees because of complications associated with the loss of the building.

“We had no income to pay anybody,” she said Tuesday.

“It is hard for me to tell them when to return because we don’t have the building yet,” Bryce McCallum said.

His former employees are working outside the state until the new building is completed and have promised to return.

The new building will be about 1,000 square feet smaller.

“It will be similar on the inside. … but the city will allow you about 7,500 square feet because of building codes,” McCallum said regarding new building restrictions.

McCallum and his wife, a real estate broker, opened their first store in 1997 and outgrew two before they acquired the building on the 2-acre lot on Interstate 35E near Pockrus Paige Road in May 2003.

“Fifty percent of what we sell, I still carry,” McCallum said. “I still do 80 percent of the work that we did in the main shop.”

McCallum said he hopes to be back in business by the time Accessory Superstore’s 11th anniversary rolls around in September. If the store is open, the couple will have reason to celebrate.

“It has been a long road after all is said and done,” McCallum said. “We will have a new facility, equipment, tools and a bed-liner machine.”

KARINA RAMÍREZ can be reached at 940-566-6878. Her e-mail address is kramirez@dentonrc.com.