Fire destroys artist's warehouse in Pearland
PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- The owner of a yard art store is struggling to keep up the holiday spirit after a fire destroyed her workshop Friday morning.
Mary Amick has designed and painted decorations at Mary Mays for more than 20 years. Now she owns the business.
"It was in a total blaze around 5:30 this morning," Amick says. "We lost all of our saws, our tools, basically everything you can think of to run our company was in there."
One machine used to carve designs into wood cost $20,000. It is destroyed now. The building was too old to be insured.
"It was built in the early 1900s," Amick said.
Visiting Mary Mays is a holiday tradition for many Pearland families. Customers are saddened by the recent news.
"It's devastating," Kelley Waters said. "This is our third year here. I brought my dad here because there's something that's so perfect for him for his yard."
Amick said her profits for this holiday season should be OK, but she does not know if she can afford to rebuild the workshop. Without the workshop and equipment, she won't have a place to create new pieces of art.
She is grateful for her loyal customers.
"It makes me emotional," Amick said. "To have people buy my stuff for more than 20 years, I'm very blessed. I'm very, very blessed."
