The city of Jeanerette is reeling from the loss of its only supermarket retailer in the city after an early morning fire burned Mac’s Sugar City Market Monday.

According to the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s Office, the Jeanerette Fire Department was called to the 100 block of Main Street just before 4:15 a.m. in relation to the fire. The Fire Marshal’s Office responded shortly afterwards.

The investigation into the origins of the fire is ongoing, and the extent of the damage to the building has left unsafe conditions for the deputies to work through.

While that is being remedied, deputies have worked to determine that the fire likely began in a meat processing room in a warehouse attached to the store.

Although the cause of the blaze is undetermined, deputies do not believe it is suspicious in nature.

Local fire departments that responded to the fire included Jeanerette, BOM, Rynella, Grand Marais, Franklin, Baldwin, Chitimacha, New Iberia and Iberia Parish District No. 1 fire departments.

“It really was a good collaborative effort,” Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr. said.

Bourgeois said at Monday night’s Jeanerette Board of Aldermen meeting that he was confident that arson was not the cause of the incident, and went on to thank Fire Chief Sherry Landry and Alderman Clarence Clark, who is also a fire chief, for their work in putting out three fires in the community in the past week.

“We know it’s going to have a serious impact on our community,” he said. “I’m asking for prayers and that we get behind them and support them in getting back on their feet should they choose,” Bourgeois said. “It’s devastating, but it could have been worse.”

The supermarket announced on social media Monday that it would be closed until further notice due to the damages caused by the fire.

Mac’s has been a staple in Jeanerette since 2015, when Jim Simon and John McDaniel purchased the grocery store located on Main Street in Jeanerette. The store previously went by a different name and had already been a part of the community for more than 59 years.

The name of the grocery store derived from McDaniel’s name along with the nickname for Jeanerette “Sugar City.”