Guerneville fire burns 3 downtown buildings, including Gypsy Sisters store

Cherie Sexton has poured nothing but love into her Guerneville shop Gypsy Sisters.

For the past 15 years she has seen her beloved high-end resale shop through a relocation from Santa Rosa to Guerneville, the severe 2019 flood that forced her to close for four months and the pandemic’s forced shutdown.

The flood’s aftermath feels like yesterday for Sexton and once again she’s having to rebuild.

Sunday night, Gypsy Sisters was one of three downtown Guerneville buildings destroyed in a fire.

The fire started around 10 p.m. in the crawl space under the former Flavors Unlimited ice cream shop on Main Street, said Cyndi Foreman, fire marshal for the Sonoma County Fire Protection District.

The blaze obliterated the former ice cream shop and the neighboring building that housed DeeDees Graphics and Printing until a few months ago. The Gypsy Sisters building was also heavily damaged.

Foreman could not immediately estimate the cost of the damage.

All three are set to be demolished according to Harman Dhillon, son of the buildings’ property owner Mangal Dhillon.

Mangal also owns MD Gas and Food next door, the nearby MD liquor and another gas station south of River Road. Downtown Guerneville’s New Dynamic Inn, which burned down in 2015, also belonged to Mangal.

Sunday night’s blaze was reported by someone who saw flames from the Safeway parking lot across the street, according to dispatchers.

Sexton was at home at the time. She had just put her kids to bed and was settling in to “veg out” and watch a Netflix show when a friend called her from Safeway to say Gypsy Sisters was on fire.

Not long after, Sexton’s phone flooded with texts and Facebook messages from other friends and neighbors alerting her to the situation.

“I thought to myself, well there goes the last 15 years of my life,” Sexton said. “I have other businesses but my shop has been like a baby to me.”

Sexton and her husband recently purchased the Rio Nido Lodge, where they are living while remodeling the place.

She opened Gyspy Sisters about 15 years ago on 4th Street in Santa Rosa.

“It’s definitely a store that is known and beloved by many lower Russian River residents,” Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said.

Monday, the day after the fire, Hopkins met Sexton at the store, where she was sorting through her merchandise, much of it damaged by soot, smoke and water.

While fighting the blaze Sunday night, firefighters had “heroically” tried to save what they could, Hopkins said.

The former ice cream shop — the fire’s origin site — had collapsed, Hopkins said.

“We’re pretty torn up right now,” said Harman, who helps his father manage the properties.

The former Flavors Unlimited had been vacant since 2019, but Harman and his father had been working recently with a prospective tenant.

“It was heartbreaking and to a point where you almost start tearing up,” Harman said. “Why us? Why does it keep happening to us?”

Sonoma County Fire District is still investigating the cause of the fire, according to its Monday Facebook post.

Harman said he is working with county and fire officials to secure the site with fencing before it is ultimately demolished.

He could not estimate total cost of the damage.

“It’s quite a bit of a cost,” Harman said.

Sexton, who always tries “to come back from whatever the setback is,” said she does not know what her next plans are.

Commercial space in the area is limited and the ones that are available have also gone through the floods and often need work, Sexton said.

Hopkins urged anyone with commercial space for lease to help and “maybe give her a bit of a break.”

“I certainly hope we mobilize and support her,” Hopkins said.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.