Capco loses entire inventory
A devastating fire on Butler's South Side claimed another, iconic victim: the goods inside Capco Paper.
Capco, located half a block from the fire at 359 Center Ave., was untouched by the Sunday morning blaze. Every pink napkin, squeaky noise maker and studded tiara looks just fine.
But the smoke that billowed into the building made absolutely everything unsalable — from the bottom shelf hula skirt grass to the cardboard stars swinging from the ceiling.
“We lost everything except the building,” said Susan Frawley, who runs the shop with her sister, Denise Slagel, on behalf of their parents, Sam and Gloria Capicotto.
Nobody wants table clothes at their baby shower that reek of smoke.
But worse, in the case of cups, forks or plates, the insurance company told the family that it's possible smoke permeated the plastic and could make someone sick, Frawley said. “You don't want to eat off it,” she said.
Even the pink elephant napkins Slagel selected for her own daughter's baby shower must be trashed.
Slagel said she bagged the items and left them in the store, which is not open on Sunday. The sisters visited the shop during the fire when neighbors called mistakenly thinking it was their business that had caught fire. The sisters say they were relieved to get there and see their place still standing.
When they arrived at work Monday, they still thought they were in good shape.
“We thought it was us that smelled like smoke from walking outside near the other building. Then my throat started to hurt and I realized the smoke was in the building,” she said. “Our insurance agent showed up and said, “It's overwhelming.'”
The business is closed and will remain closed for an undetermined amount of time. The insurance company, the sisters say, must inventory the contents, throw away everything, then clean and deodorize the business before the shelves can be restocked.
The sisters didn't put a price tag on the contents destroyed, but to many in this community they're priceless.
“After you have looked elsewhere, this is the place you go to find it,” Frawley said.
The store is packed floor to ceiling with standard party supplies, like three dozen colors of cups, plates and lanterns. But it's also known for the quirky and hard to find novelties, like the giant plastic record on the wall behind the counter or Steelers decorations in the name of players who have since retired.
“This is 40 years worth of stuff,” said Slagel.
Sam Capicotto said the idea of a party store began about four decades ago when the family was running a paper supply company next door. “My wife couldn't find party supplies she liked in Butler,” he said.
So she put a couple on the store's shelves. The idea blossomed and in the 90s the couple bought the current building, which is about four times bigger than the original.Today, there's color after color of decorations, from spring pastels to Christmas red and green. The stack of roll tickets is waist high. And the walls are covered with pop-up decorations in popular themes like, “Sweet 16,” “Graduate” and “Over the Hill.”You name a milestone, the store had the themed offering.It's been recommended that the family not be in the building when the products are destroyed by the insurance company.“It's going to be pretty emotional,” Susan said. “We put it all in this store. It becomes a part of you.”The family was told the garbage will be immediately removed from the site to prevent people from “Dumpster diving” for the damaged goods. It's immediately unknown how long it will take to get the store back into operating condition.Although the store is covered by insurance, the family said it will still suffer a financial blow.“These (party hats) for example,” Susan said. “There are five packages left so the insurance company will pay for five packages. But suppliers don't sell just five packages. I'll have to buy a whole box, and it will be that way for everything.”During the clearing out and filling in process, the family's sister business, which sells wholesale toilet paper and paper towels will be business as usual; it was not affected.
