HOUSTON --Just 44 days since the massive fire destroyed the Gallery Furniture Warehouse off I-45, and the showroom is open again.

In lavish style, Jim McIngvale, Mattress Mack, treated customers to free hamburgers and drinks, as he cut the ribbon to usher customers back into his store.  

He also took a few mminutes to talk about what it was like to lose 20 to 30 million dollars of merchandise on a night back in May.

“First Linda arrived with Lauren and Elizabeth, our two wonderful daughters and together we held each other and cried as we watched 28 years of our life going up in smoke, “said McIngvale.

McIngvale went on to chronicle the next hours and days as he and his family planned a comeback.

With just 30 percent of usual revenues, McIngvale re-built and created a new gallery furniture logo. The number 31 is now on all the signs. 

It stands for the 31 stations which responded to the fire. McIngvale honored those firefighters in a special ceremony yesterday and again today.

“This is probably one of the first times that somebody, a private citizen, has done something like this in appreciation of what we do so it’s pretty special.” Said Senior Fire Captain Larry Ogrodowicz about how McIngvale honored the entire Houston Fire Department.

 To that, McIngvale responded, “without them we’d be out of business and 400 people in Houston would be unemployed.”

As a crowd of over 100 watched, the moment came.

With a snip of the scissors, McIngvale opened his store again.

Customers from all over the state filed in to the applause of gallery employees. Portions of the showroom won’t open until September. The warehouse is scheduled to open on Thanksgiving.

McIngvale credited his family and employees for the fast comeback.

“My wife did all this. She and all the employees, they worked 24 hours a day seven days a week. I was over at Post Oak trying to keep the cash flow up. They did all the hard work out here,” said McIngvale.

Mack’s not taking any credit, only giving it. It is the goodwill he may see returned in sales.