AS RESIDENTS OF Elliot Lake, Ont., grieve the loss of two community members killed in a collapse of their mall’s roof, they are also dealing with a massive blow to the city’s economy.

When a section of the Algo Centre Mall caved in Saturday it meant the destruction of not only a significant portion of the city’s retail shops, but also the library, one of two grocery stores, one of two hotels, the health unit office, a funeral services office, a gym and several government service offices.

“The mall was a huge hub of the community,” Elliot Lake Mayor Rick Hamilton said in an interview. “It’s going to have a huge economic impact, not having the mall in operation.”

Officials have not yet come up with a specific monetary estimate of what the devastating collapse will mean to the small community’s economy, but it will be significant, they say.

The affected businesses run the gamut from small, locally owned shops to major retailers such as Zellers and FoodLand.

Sobeys, the parent company of FoodLand, has already announced it will rebuild and will pay its employees for up to six months while that happens.

About 250 people are out of work because of the mall’s destruction.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Labour said Friday it’s too early to tell whether the centre will eventually reopen.

Structural engineers are reassessing the structure and will issue recommendations on how to handle what’s left of the building, Tom Zach said in a morning news conference.

But he stressed the decision to scrap or salvage the mall will come down to its owner.

“The decision may be that the building gets demolished (but) that’s not our call,” he said.

Spa owner Christine Abela said she will really be feeling the pinch, financially. She will be moving out of her home and in with a friend to lower her living expenses.

“We’ll band together, do what we can,” said Abela, 40. “(We’ll) reduce our expenses, keep our overhead as low as we can and hopefully we can ride through whatever may happen.”

The local chamber of commerce set up a committee soon after the collapse to provide support to the affected businesses. A staff member has been designated to help owners look for new land and property on which to rebuild.

Todd Stencill, the chamber’s general manager, said staff and volunteers have contacted people from each business to make sure they have called their insurance companies, their bankers and point of sale representatives.

The chamber of commerce held a seminar this week at which counsellors talked about dealing with grief, Service

Canada staff talked about how to apply for Employment Insurance and workers from the food bank talked about how to access its services.