Almost none of Cindy Munn's furniture or belongings were salvageable following the Thain's building fire. Photo / Supplied
Almost none of Cindy Munn's furniture or belongings were salvageable following the Thain's building fire. Photo / Supplied
On Wednesday, Cindy Munn should have been celebrating the conclusion of her first week in business.
The Good Earth Dispensary, a space for gatherings, seminars and workshops was scheduled to open on Wednesday, July 30 at 1 Victoria Ave.
Its doors never opened.
Instead, the wood was smashed out from them, sending a torrent of water full of dispensary items sailing down Taupo Quay, dragging Munn's dreams along with them.
Munn was three days away from opening her business when Thain's building caught fire on June 20 and was so badly damaged it will be demolished.
The doors of the Good Earth Dispensary never officially got to open due to extensive damage done to the Thain's building following a fire. Photo / Supplied
"It was really horrible. Civil Defence told me they were dreading opening up my shop the most because they knew it would be the most damaged," she said.
"They opened the door, fortunately it wasn't stopped by furniture. The room was well sealed so when the water poured in during the fire, it couldn't get out."
The water is believed to have been up to 2m deep and almost none of Munn's furniture or belongings were salvageable.
Shelves fixed to the wall had to be left behind due to the building's lack of stability and a lifetime collection of books was destroyed.
She was able to recover her counter that was water damaged, some plants and an eftpos terminal she was going to be charged $500 for.
Munn said her wisdom and life experience told her that she could not set a concrete story around what has happened.
"If you get stuck in a narrative of 'it's not fair, it shouldn't have happened to me', and wondering why life is so difficult, then that is what it will be," Munn said.
"The subtle and skilful thing is being able to accept what has happened without turning it into one of life's big stories. Otherwise it rules your life."
Munn started speaking with building owner Bryce Smith about moving into the building in early 2019 and agreed to a lease while upgrades were being made.
Together they planned the layout of her bottom unit in the three-storey building, choosing things like colours and patterns.
Munn only moved into the building on July 1 and opening the dispensary was supposed to be the culmination of about six years of planning.
"It was months of planning, thousands of dollars and huge amounts of energy," she said.
"For me the greatest loss is of the project. How will I recreate this?"
Munn previously worked at Health 2000 and Commonsense Organics and has been studying herbal medicine for a long time.
Her dispensary was going to dispense herbal medicines in tincture form, teas, dried herbs and natural products such as bamboo toothbrushes.
Born in Raetihi, Munn later attended Turakina School and then lived in Wellington, with a stint in Melbourne before moving to Whanganui three years ago.
Munn is not sure whether she will find another suitable space for her project, she had no insurance and has started a Givealittle page to recover some funds.
"If I could find that space again, I would probably find the energy and resources to put into it, but without the space there isn't anything really," she said.
