The owner of Wonder Harbour Comics of Edmonton, Alberta, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to rebuild the business after the store was destroyed by an arsonist.
The fire broke out at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 27. On the crowdfunding page, owner Vincent Joyall wrote that someone “spread gasoline throughout the store, and lit a fire that consumed every thing. There is nothing left.” Although the building will likely survive, Joyall wrote, “all the hard work you’ve seen the WonderHarbor team put into building Canada’s largest comic store has been lost. We are devastated.”
The Global News reported that Joyall saw the arson on a live feed from a security camera:
“As soon as it went live, I saw a massive flame erupt in the store,” he said. “I saw [a person] in the store for a minute and a half. They had a jerry can filled with something and they were pouring it all over the store.”
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services ruled the fire an arson and estimated damages at $450,000, of which $300,000 was to the building and $150,000 to the contents.
This was the second fire at the store in a week; another fire occurred on Sunday, March 20, and ERFS believes that fire was also deliberately set. According to the Wonder Harbour Comics Twitter account, the store lost power and was closed until Friday, March 25.
Wonder Harbour was previously Happy Harbor Comics & Toys, whose co-owner, Jay Bardyla, was a contributor to ICv2’s Talk Back feature (see “Jay Bardyla of Happy Harbor Comics on DC’s ‘Rebirth’ Sales”). Joyall purchased the business in 2019 and renamed it Wonder Harbour Comics.
Source: ICV2
