Claudia Schauffler’s retirement project was running The Shop, her new- and used-clothing store in Nederland’s Caribou Village Shopping Center.
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When the shopping center burned down in a predawn fire on Oct. 9, 2025, she was optimistic about reopening. But those plans have since changed.
“I just don’t have the bandwidth to start it all over again,” Schauffler said.
Schauffler is one of 17 business owners who lost everything when the Caribou Village Shopping Center was destroyed in the fire. One year later, it’s still emotionally challenging, Schauffler said. It’s been hard on the whole town.
“It was more than just a business. It was part of the community,” she said. “We all had our niche in the community and our people who would come and visit and hang out. And when that’s all ripped out from under you — that’s the worst of it, I think.”
The cause of the fire remains unknown. Nederland Fire Chief Charlie Schmidtmann and Fire Marshal Andrew Joslin met with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the beginning of August. ATF told them the tech review and report would be finished by October, Schmidtmann said, but as of Tuesday, ATF has not finished their report.
“We were told that we should have the report by the end of the summer, and this is what was initially conveyed to the public, but there were several government shutdowns which added to the delays,” Schmidtmann wrote in an email to The Daily Camera. “As we anxiously await alongside our community, I was hopeful that we would have the final cause by the anniversary of the fire, but as of now I don’t think that will happen. I am still expecting to see the finalized report soon, but as of now I don’t have a better time frame.”
Tebo Properties, the owner of the shopping center, plans to submit construction plans to the town for the shopping center’s replacement by Friday. Their new shopping center will have more accessibility accommodations, sustainability features and fire protection standards while keeping the mountain theme. Tebo’s goal is to break ground in late spring.
The businesses are what made the shopping center a special place, Tebo Operations Manager Ben Myers said, and the goal is to recreate that. New tenants and previous tenants have already expressed interest in moving in once the new building is finished, he said.
“It was a 100% occupied, synergetic shopping center, and our goal is to rebuild that with a similar tenant mix as before so it can serve the town,” Myers said.
Even for the businesses that have reopened, it’s not quite the same. Brightwood Music moved into a space across the street from the former shopping center, in a former bank now called The Vault, along with Very Nice Brewing Company.
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“It’s been tough,” Brightwood Music owner Doug Armitage said. “It’s been really tough to try to put it back together in the same way.”
Brightwood Music has a smaller space, a smaller selection of the same instruments and less foot traffic. Armitage still does instrument repairs, which is what’s paying the bills.
“Now we’re back in business, but we’re not even seeing 25% of what we had over (at the shopping center) as far as sales and people walking in the door,” he said.
Gussie Walter, the owner of Augustina’s Winery, is making wine again ever since she found a leasable warehouse space in July. When Tebo does rebuild the shopping center, Walter would like to move back in.
The fact that there are no answers about what caused the fire bothers her, she said, and she and others are angry because the burned-down center was left to sit there for seven months. Even so, she’s focused on making wine rather than stewing about what she’s lost.
“All I can do is let it go,” Walter said. “I can’t replace it. I’m not going to try to duplicate what I had there. If I’m going to go forward with a new winery, it has to be a new one.”
Even though Schauffler is not opening up a storefront, she’s still in business. She’s switched to selling clothes online, including via Poshmark and Vinted.
Schauffler thought she had moved on from the fire, but watching it be torn down this summer with nothing to salvage was “emotionally devastating.” Since then, she’s been working on letting go, which remains challenging. It’ll take time, she said.
“You think you know where your life is headed and then overnight it’s all just demolished,” she said. “It’s been really hard.”
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