A popular Lake Leelanau grocery closed for months after a devastating fire will likely reopen in a matter of days.

Contractors buzzed around NJ’s Grocery on Thursday as The Ticker sat with owner Sam Chugh to discuss the shop, closed since June after a fire caused considerable structural and smoke damage.

Down the hall from his office, Chugh’s workers busily stocked shelves. He said he’ll be open as soon as some time today (Friday), but that decision depended on how much got done the rest of Thursday. Those interested should monitor NJ’s Facebook page for updates.

It’s been a long, very stressful few months, Chugh says. But they made it through, perhaps stronger than ever before.

“If you look at a spider who makes his web, he keeps trying. If you remove it, again he makes it,” he says. “You keep trying. That’s the motto…you keep moving forward.”

Groceries and NJ’s regionally famous take-out Indian food will be available as soon as the store opens back up, though they're still waiting on a new liquor license. 

“The county has given us a green signal, the food inspector gave us a green signal, now the liquor part is remaining,” Chugh says. “There’s some paperwork, and investigators will come.”

It’s a somewhat stressful situation, Chugh’s son and co-owner Dave Chugh tells The Ticker.

“Our sales are hugely dependent on liquor and beer and wine,” he says. “We are excited (to get people in for other items), but our sales are going to be affected, because this is the holiday season and people are in drinking spirits.”

The exact cause of the fire – which destroyed some of the century-plus building and caused considerable damage inside – was never determined, Sam and Dave say. Fortunately insurance covered much of the loss and rebuild, making the situation far less devastating than it could have been.

There’s also a silver lining: they were able to improve certain operations by expanding the building’s footprint and offerings, adding a beer cave, coolers, freezers, a new butcher room, more room for stock and better facilities for employees, including transient workers.

“We are still debating the upper floor, because before the upper floor was just all storage, which we barely used. But now we might have a place somebody can stay at. We get foreign students, so we might make a facility to stay in,” Dave says. “We would still need to put in a bathroom and a shower and everything, but we’re thinking about doing that.”

Speaking of employees, the Chughs are proud to have kept paying their roughly 16 staffers throughout the process, something that made sure everyone was taken care of and stuck around. 

The surrounding community has buoyed the Chughs as they’ve worked to reopen the store, Dave says.

“We feel great, to be honest. We’ve always given our love to the community, and we have always gotten it back as well. And we love the people of Lake Leelanau and all the neighboring towns as well,” he says. “There has been a great support…and we’re very appreciative of everybody.”

Photo: Sam Chugh in front of the store Thursday afternoon.