It's hard to believe just over three months ago floodwaters were lapping halfway up the W in the Big W sign at the front of Lismore Square.
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Fast forward to now and staff are frantically racing the clock to become the first store at Lismore's main shopping complex to re-open.
Although everything may not be perfect, the 70-odd staff are raring to go for the re-opening which will take place Thursday, June 17.
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According to Big W's Area Operations Manager, Dean Richardson, the aim after the floods was to re-open as quickly as possible for the sake of the staff and to give the community "something to do".
"Our aim was to get back as quickly as possible for the community, because our team are the community," he said
"A lot of these people live locally, fourteen of them lost their homes.
"Even if their family haven't lost homes, their friends and families have.
"It has been quite emotional. This has been hard for them."
Mr Richardson said the whole time Big W's Lismore Square store was out of action, staff were given a wage and redeployed to other stores.
"Everyone who worked here before the flood hit, each got a wage, they just had to work in a different environment," he said.
Big W at Lismore Square had 1.7m of water through it and everything was destroyed.
Staff had to kick a door in to get inside and torches were required to see anything because the power had been knocked out.
Shaun Haysom, Centre Manager at Lismore Square, said Big W's re-opening was a significant step in Lismore's flood recovery.
"To think three months ago I was standing in Big W, in the dark, with gumboots on, surrounded by damaged stock, floodwater and mud, to re-open on June 16 is super important," he said.
"I was here when Lismore Square was inundated with water and then I was first on the scene, with my operations manager, when the water resided.
"It was incredibly tough for me, but also having the retailers wanting to access the centre knowing catastrophe that had happened to the centre was really difficult."
Lismore Square Big W manager Jessica Costello said it had been a "pretty crazy" time making it through the flood and getting ready to re-open.
"It has been the most intense 12 or 13 weeks that we have ever been through," she said.
"But it has really rewarding to come in and see what has been able to changed and what is able to be done in 12 weeks.
"What has been able to be done for our community, has been a really great experience."
The rest of Lismore Square is on track to re-open on July 6, with Woolworths the first supermarket to return on that date, followed by Coles and K-Mart later in July.
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
