Saturday was a sweet day for siblings Tony and Mary Cerone — for the first time in almost a year, they opened their Italian bakery, Patisserie Boulangerie Vimont, to the public.
They served the tomato pizzas, cannolis and coffee that had made them a bedrock of the Vimont neighbourhood in Laval, where they operate.
Tragedy hit the cafe when police said arsonists targeted an adjacent salon, burning the mall housing it and other businesses inside.
“I was very angry — because we all work very hard here,” said Mary Cerone. “Why did this happen to us?”
At first, they thought they might not rebuild the business, but the more they made the rounds, the more people wanted them to reopen, Cerone said.
When the fire hit, Tony Cerone said, “it was a shock. It’s 8 a.m. in the morning and I’m like, ‘what do I do now?'”
Now, that the cafe has reopened, both he and his sister say the hardest challenge is keeping up with the steady stream of business.