STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It was back to business as usual at the ShopRite in Great Kills on Friday just two days after a Thanksgiving Eve fire prompted a storewide evacuation and a massive FDNY response.
The Advance/SILive.com visited the store Friday morning and found dozens of shoppers filling their carts with groceries less than 48 hours after a fire in the paper goods aisle filled the store with heavy smoke.
A faint smell of smoke still lingered in the store, and workers were observed restocking the paper goods aisle where the fire reportedly broke out.
All other aisles and sections of the store were fully stocked, with essentially no indication of the event that occurred two days prior.
Firefighters respond to the ShopRite on Greaves Lane in Great Kills on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott Axelrod)
The blaze broke out on Wednesday in an aisle of the supermarket’s recently opened location on Greaves Lane in Evergreen Plaza at 3:44 p.m., a spokesperson for the FDNY told the Advance/SILive.com.
Multiple fire engines were on the scene with ladders stretched to the top of the supermarket, while scores of fully-equipped firefighters with hoses lined up outside the building.
In total, 12 units with 60 FDNY and EMS members were dispatched to the location, the FDNY spokesperson said.
The blaze was brought under control at 4:44 p.m.
Firefighters respond to the ShopRite on Greaves Lane in Great Kills on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott Axelrod)
An Advance/SILive.com reporter at the scene observed thick white smoke through the windows of the supermarket, with FDNY officials deploying ventilation fans to clear the smoke.
No injuries were reported, the official said.
A ShopRite employee told the Advance/SILive.com that moments after the fire broke out, and as store sprinklers began raining down, an attempt was made to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher. The heavy smoke made it difficult to see and store managers called for all employees to give up their efforts and evacuate the building.
“It literally couldn’t have happened in a worse spot,” the employee said, going on to explain that the flames quickly began consuming all of the paper products in the aisle.
Workers and shoppers gather in the parking lot outside the ShopRite.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott Axelrod)
The employee noted that the supermarket was “super busy” with customers, some of whom began running with their shopping carts trying to reach the registers before they were asked to abandon their grocery hauls and vacate the premises.
A number of other customers, the employee explained, could be seen standing at the end of the aisle where the fire occurred shooting video of the blaze on their phones. Some of this footage has already been making the rounds on social media, the employee said.
Dozens of employees were gathered in the shopping center parking lot until they were eventually dismissed by store management and sent home.
Several customers who showed up in the parking lot on Wednesday to get the final ingredients for their Thanksgiving feasts were shocked when they saw the FDNY response.
One woman who spoke with the Advance/SILive.com said she was coming to pick up her Thanksgiving order.
Another shopper said: “I’m glad I picked up my turkey yesterday.”
A firefighter looks into the ShopRite location during the emergency response.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott Axelrod)