From this past December to April, Julie Hause only took three days off. The rest of her time was spent on Maple Shade’s Main Street, transforming the longstanding chocolate shop she purchased in 2023.
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Hause spent months personally ripping up the worn green carpet by hand, installing laminate flooring, repainting, and more, breathing new life into the aging downtown staple.
Now, her L&S Chocolates is closed with extensive smoke, water, and roof damage from a fire Tuesday night that is suspected to have been caused by lightning.
“It was a group effort. My husband, my kids, my friends — everybody came in and we did it all ourselves. And that’s why I’m so devastated,” Hause said. “I put my blood, sweat and tears into this. And now, I feel like it literally went up in smoke or washed away in a flood because that’s what I’m dealing with.”
Hause was in her shop — which had been open for less than four months — when powerful storms rolled through South Jersey Tuesday evening and she heard a “very loud crack” that came from the back of the neighboring bakery, she said.
The lights flickered in an unusual way, “a really quick stutter of flashing,” she said, before she smelled something burning. Hause quickly searched in her back workroom for the source of the fire before exiting the building and calling the fire department, she said.
The official investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing and the Maple Shade Fire Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The National Weather Service confirmed there were lightning strikes in the area around the time of the fire but the agency does not collect the location-specific data needed to determine whether a particular building was struck or not, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Mount Holly said Thursday.
Tis So Sweet, the adjoining bakery, posted on social media shortly after Tuesday’s storm announcing that it will be closed until further notice.
“Unfortunately our Maple Shade store was struck by lightning during this evening’s storm and will be closed until we can clean up and repair damage,” the bakery wrote.
By Thursday morning, cakes and cupcakes were still sitting in the display cases inside the shuttered bakery on the corner of Maple Avenue, and an “unsatisfactory” designation from the health department was taped to the front door. The bakery’s owners could not be reached for comment.
Since the fire, Hause has spent nearly every waking moment trying to determine her next steps. Fielding visits and phone calls from the health department, multiple insurance adjusters, her landlord, and more, she said it will likely be at least four to six months before she can reopen the store.
“It’s hard. I put so much work and effort into this. I cried most of last night, I’ve cried most of today,” Hause said Wednesday afternoon. “Maybe a couple days off of just breathing and relaxing, and then I’ll figure out my next steps.”
Before the fire, Hause had begun developing ideas for classes and community events that she could host at the store, like cake decorating classes or a “Chocolate & Sip” wine night. Now, she’s just taking things “hour by hour” as she starts to rebuild.
“I’m scared. I’m absolutely scared for my future now,” she said. “After putting everything into this and, overnight, it’s gone.”
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