A Blast to the Past disaster fund

Hi my name is Amy Avey, the daughter of James and Kelly Colwell and sister of Wesley Colwell. I’m here to share their story.

On March 5, 2017, A blast to the past was opened, James and Wesley Colwell are the owners of the store. Over the past five years Wesley, Kelly and James have been critical to the success of the store. Many members of the Colwell family, including children and grandchildren have contributed to the operations of the

store. It truly is a family ran operation.

Over the five years the business has grown by doing online sales, business in store and Facebook lives. They refer to their Facebook community as “blasters.”

One blaster described A blast to the past as, “a place that brought generations together remembering our past and present..” another blaster shared that they frequented the store weekly and described his finds as gems.

A blast to the past was a gem, creating a community that appreciates generations from the past and the present. James would often refer to himself as old school and his son Wesley, as new school. A blast to the past was not just a nostalgia mall it was a place to bring people together, sharing similar interests and hobbies.

On April 10,2022 Wesley Colwell received a call that the business was on fire. After assessing the damage, the store will not be able to be repaired, the inventory and collectibles are completely destroyed. The business had liability insurance but because collectibles are difficult to insure, & they are not the owners of the property, they did not have insurance to cover fire damage.

We’ve had several people ask how they can help, so we created this to allow individuals from our community to contribute if they feel inclined to do so. My family had a very active online business. Many packages due for shipment were destroyed in the fire. Proceeds from this effort will be used to refund their customers & pay outstanding bills. They know they will not recuperate the cost of their inventory. 

This is a post from James Colwell yesterday.

We thank all of our customers who helped us grow the store in the last 5 years. We have enjoyed the friendships we have made & appreciate your patronage. Also, we would like to thank the New Union Volunteer fire department, The Manchester fire department, all of the other responding community volunteer fire departments & all 1st responders. We appreciate your efforts and everything you did to limit the damage & contain the fire.