Food store fire inconveniences many students

The fire that decimated Convenient Food Store in the 3900 block of Walnut Street early Saturday morning has also curtailed business at the popular stores College Pizza and MegaVideo. And the problems did not stop when the flames disappeared -- smokey air and evacuation were only the beginning of the annoyances, students said. Although it will not be difficult to find other places for groceries, pizza and movies, the stores on 39th and Walnut Streets were some of the cheapest near campus, students said. "As far as living in High Rise North, [the Convenient Food Mart] is the closest place to get stuff," College and Wharton junior Michael Margolis said. "And cigarettes are cheaper at the now burnt down convenience store. It's a pain in the ass because it's like a quarter more." Although most students complained about personal inconvenience, Wharton junior Sanjay Banker said his greatest concern was not for the movie he couldn't rent Saturday night, but for the store merchants who were forced to close down. "There are other video places on campus," he said. "There's more than one place to eat on campus. It's more of a tragedy than anything else. It's kind of selfish to think about how I was inconvenienced." But walking a few extra blocks to Allegro's or the Wawa at 38th and Spruce streets were not the only problems the fire caused for students. At the actual scene of the fire, the excessive smoke and foul smell generated by the fire infiltrated nearby residences, clouding the air and alarming students. Students living at 39th and Sansom streets, behind the Convenient Food Store, said they were awaken by their neighbors at around three or four Saturday morning and had to leave their home. "We thought we were in imminent danger, so we got everyone up and outside," College junior Dave Hong said. "I got a closer look and saw the smoke and flames. It was just unbelievable. "There were firemen all over the place," he added. "And the smell of the smoke was really overpowering once you got outside." College junior Kim Katz, who lives in High Rise North said she was woken up by commotion and the abnormal smell. "A really pungent odor woke me up at four in the morning," she said. "I'm used to bad odors in the high rises and this one was strong enough to wake me up. "For a second I thought the fire was in the high rises," she added. "But it didn't smell like normal smoke. I can't describe it but it was really bad -- I knew we weren't going to die but it smelled like plastic was burning." Engineering junior Paul Jamison agreed that the smell was unusually strong for smoke. "I'm not sure exactly what it smelled like," he said. "It didn't smell like normal smoke. Maybe a lot of plastic burning."