Wonderland Arcade is cleaning up and assessing damage to its building after a fire destroyed neighbouring Lang’s Café on Wednesday morning.
The fire broke out around 6 a.m. in the 1700 block of Broad Street. Fire crews spent most of Wednesday at the scene.
Wonderland did not suffer any fire damage, but did have water damage to the floor and ceiling of the arcade. The family-run business has been in the community since 1977.
The owners rushed to the scene when they heard about the fire, but could only watch from across the street as fire crews tried to prevent their business from going up in flames.
“(We’re) just so grateful it’s still here,” Amanda White, who is the daughter of owner Dorothy Stuart.
Many of the games inside Wonderland are one-of-a-kind, including Pac-Man and jukeboxes that date back more than 50 years.
“To have that intense of a fire, going for that long, and to have complete loss next door and to have our balloons are still on the way, Spiderman isn’t even covered in smoke. There’s no evidence other than the smell that there was fire, it could have just been a water main break,” White said. “Other than if the roof’s going to hold, there was a lot of water on the roof. We’re just hoping, that’s all we can do.”
Wonderland said it will be taking all the games out to clean them and see what can be saved. The goal is to get the arcade back up and running again as soon as possible.
With files from CTV Regina's Jessica Smith
