Early on the morning of July 3, 2022, neighbors noticed smoke pouring from the gutters of 3238 San Mateo Boulevard and called the fire department. An accidental electrical fire had started in the wall of the building inside of Hometown Heroez shop. The store quickly filled with hot black smoke as the framing of the walls and the electrical panel burned.

One by one, members of the family-owned shop arrived only to watch helplessly as firefighters battled the fire by ripping out walls and ceilings and pumping thousands of gallons of water into the shop. The fire department responded quickly and was able to put out the fire relatively fast, but the building was quickly declared uninhabitable and everything in the shop was damaged by smoke, fire, and water.

Hometown Heroez is more than a store. It is family and community. As many of you know, most of the designs sold in the shop are created in-house by family and friends.

It is a meeting place and event space that supports local artists, and an important part of Albuquerque.

A decade of hard work went into this store and it is something that insurance can't replace, but we can show love and support and help make it possible for them to keep going.