Farmer Joe’s in Cape Coral reopens for first time since Ian

It was a celebration for shoppers on Thursday as one of the hottest shops in Cape Coral opened its doors again, months after Ian destroyed the roof and closed its doors.

Shoppers could not wait to get back into Farmer Joe’s. The building suffered serious roof damage during the hurricane, forcing them to shut down for repairs just a few months after its grand opening.

“We were very nervous because, you know, I was one of the first people that actually walked back into the building, and we saw the extent of the damage. We were just really uncertain. Are we going to have a job?” said June Quiva, an assistant store director at Farmer Joe’s.

Instead of letting the fear overcome him, Quiva kept a brave face.

“We just started putting the groceries back together, did some stages, went from like dry grocery and then towards the last part, you know, we finalized everything with the perishable items,” said Quiva.

All to get to December 1st. It was the first time customers like Rick Eisman were welcomed back in.

“I’ve been waiting for it; I missed this place. I’m like an everyday person here. I’ve been in and out of the hospital seven times this year. And when I knew they were opening today, this was a first place on my agenda to go for the day,” said Eisman.

A busy deli isn’t something most people ever wish for, but for Eisman, it’s a dream come true.

“I was worried because this is my store that I would go to. The people are from the neighborhood. It’s managed and owned [by] people that live here. Not from some other state or anything. So these people here care about the people here,” said Eisman.

Quiva is also thrilled to have the store back open.

“It’s very, it’s joyful. It’s, it’s humbling at the same time, you know, I mean, here we are seeing a lot of our customers, a lot of, we call them our partners, you know, just the smiles on their faces. It means it means a lot, you know, because we, we’ve really worked very hard to, you know, put the family back together,” said Quiva.

It wasn’t easy, though. Quiva and many of his coworkers feared for their jobs. Seeing the extent of the roof damage, they didn’t know what their future held.

“We went to work every day, you know, without any, you know, just really being thankful that, you know, we have a job that we’re able to, you know, come into work. Whether it’s distributing, you know, food donation to the community or stocking shelves, or even just thoroughly cleaning the entire building, just to get it ready for the grand reopening,” Quiva said.

Owner Lee Synder knows all that work paid off. Without employees like Quiva, this reopening wouldn’t be possible.

That support is exactly why Synder couldn’t give up reopening his doors. Despite the struggles, he feels like it was a reset.

“Now we operate better, we’ve got a better core of people working for us. So, I feel that the flow is going to be much nicer through here,” Synder said. “We’re still not 100%. Every day, there’s still a hiccup with refrigeration, not necessarily whether it’s an air conditioner unit or one of the refrigerated cases, and that’s just what happens when all this stuff on the roof gets wet with the salt water from the hurricane.”

Those problems are just small things the team will overcome with time.

Farmer Joe’s will resume their normal hours of operation of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week and will continue hiring additional employees in the upcoming weeks in preparation for the upcoming season.