It’s been seven weeks since Dan Buxton rushed to a late-night scene at his sporting goods store in La Mesa. Windows had been shattered, and lay in crumpled piles on the floor. The walls and merchandise were drenched by sprinklers. The smell of smoke hung in the air.

Play It Again Sports, Buxton’s newly opened franchise shop, suffered one of the biggest blows of La Mesa’s late-May protest that turned riotous. Now, with over a month of repairs (much of the labor done by Buxton himself), Play It Again Sports will open its doors once again on Thursday.

But remnants of the evening had a permanent effect on Buxton and his shop.

“I’d be lying if I said it still isn’t in my mind; the hurt that people would do this to my business,” Buxton told the Union-Tribune Wednesday, as he prepared for his first day back.

While targets of vandals that night were mostly large banks, such as the Chase and Union Bank buildings burned to their studs, the locally owned Play It Again took a massive hit. Besides fire damage and the resulting flooding, the store was also looted — some of the looters caught red-handed by Buxton as he chased after them. Suspects were later arrested.

Deputies responded to the riots at the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center, where Play It Again Sports is located.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

In the hours after the traumatic event, Buxton gave dazed interviews to the local press, estimating the total cost of damage done to his store at $200,000. He was severely underestimating the destruction, he later learned.

“The morning after, I knew there would be water damage,” Buxton said. ” But I had no experience with something like this before. I didn’t realize the damage that smoke could do; that everything in the store was affected — every bit of merchandise, every fixture. I just couldn’t comprehend it.”

In ruined merchandise alone, Play It Again suffered $250,000 in losses. Then came all the repairs. The store’s flooring, drywall and ceilings had to be completely replaced due to water damage. The insulation had to be pulled out and dried. Nearly every light fixture was permanently destroyed.

“Insurance covered some of the expense, but not even close to our total losses,” Buxton said.

To save some cash, Play It Again’s small team of three employees joined Buxton and his wife in handling much of the repairs. They tore out the ceilings and replaced them, cleaned and painted the walls.

A mural that says Justice For All hangs in Play It Again Sports. The mural was painted on plywood that was used to cover the broken windows.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Despite the extensive damage to his store, Buxton said he felt indebted to friends, neighbors and strangers who showed up to his rescue in the weeks after the event. The La Mesa community, moved by Buxton’s personal losses, showed up to help with repairs and donated new merchandise for him to sell.

Several GoFundMe pages were set up to help support Buxton’s family and the business, including one from the East County Chamber of Commerce meant to support small-business owners affected by the riot. In total, Buxton received about $40,000 in donations, including $5,000 from the East County fund.

Businesses also showed up in support, including La Mesa Glass, which donated new windows to replace ones broken by vandals. Vons, the neighboring grocery store from which Play It Again leases its space, offered Buxton a vacant building to store his merchandise during repairs. Grossmont Center, a family-owned shopping mall in La Mesa, called Buxton to offer him additional storage space free-of-charge.

“So many people have helped us, I can’t even list them all,” Buxton said. “We are extremely grateful.”

That said, not all responses have been friendly. Buxton said he was harassed after getting media coverage by a local business owner who felt Buxton was trying to get rich off of donations — and wanted some relief for himself.

“His business had been hit hard by the coronavirus, and he needed office furniture donated,” Buxton said.

Dozens of volunteers help clean up the mess left behind by the vandalism that took place in late May.

(Sydney Prather/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The whole experience has made Buxton think differently about individuals he doesn’t know.

“We all tend to make a lot of assumptions about strangers,” Buxton said. “People assumed they knew me and my business and how it runs. They said, ‘You have insurance, what do you need help for?’ Or people assume things about others based on the color of their skin. These assumptions are what get us all into trouble.”

Today, a mural hangs in the shop’s renovated interior that reads, “Justice For All.” It was painted on the plywood that was used to cover the broken windows during the night of the protests.

As for Play It Again’s next chapter, the store will carry on. Buxton is confident sporting goods will remain in demand, no matter where coronavirus takes the retail industry.

“We’re going to do fine,” Buxton said. “We were doing fine before the shutdown, and we’ll continue to do so whether coronavirus has another impact or not.”

Located at 8011 University Avenue, the shop will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.