Lifelong Harlem resident Patricia Johnson and her neighbors have not gotten over the shock of losing a strip of businesses at West 134th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard to a fire that broke out early Wednesday.

“We’re all devastated," Johnson said. "Smoke was everywhere."

The five-alarm fire tore through businesses including Manna’s Soulfood and clothing store Sesinko, leaving nothing but charred remnants in some of the shops. Almost 200 firefighters and EMS workers responded to the scene.

The row of businesses has since been boarded up, but residents said the implications of these losses run deep.

“All my life I lived here. This is where we came to eat at," resident Roderick Arnold said as he pointed to the row of shuttered businesses.
 
“It’s actually going to hurt the community, because the community will have to go other places, and they’re going to lose a whole lot of money from the community now," he added. 

Johnson, for one, said she now has to travel six blocks, to West 139th Street, to shop for everyday items she once went next door to purchase. She is also spending more money, she said.

“Paper plates, he only charged eight dollars, and this was $11,” Johnson said.

Dong Kim owns the popular fish market on the strip. He said his 35-year-old business sustained mostly water damage, but he is uncertain of its future.

“Whatever the city’s decision with the landlord and what they’re going to do, I’ll follow them,” Kim said.

Lloyd Williams, of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, said this has happened to this community before. In 2004, a fire burned downed popular diner "Pan Pan" on the corner of West 135th Street. Now, the block has lost one its the largest soul food chain locations.

“It’s the second time in the last year and a half that there has been a fire in that complex that has devastated Manna's. Unfortunately, none will be able to survive,” Williams said.

He said he knows Harlem is resilient, but is concerned about what businesses may come when the commercial strip is rebuilt.

“What we’re going to need to fight is the replacement of those businesses with the box stores," he said. "We lose our uniqueness, some of our culture."

The Olnick Organization, which owns the strip of property, called the fire a terrible incident, and said it is working with the city to determine a cause.