Business owners who lost everything in a Largo strip mall fire are looking to the future.

Some have set up temporary shops, but say they are ready for insurance claims to be finalized so rebuilding can begin.

The strip mall, which also housed the popular Fireplace Restaurant, was destroyed in a Fourth of July fire.

The House of Shades and Lamps has moved just 500 feet down the street.

"It's been a real challenge, that's for sure,” owner Michael Carter said. “But we did what we said we were going to do."

Carter and his family renovated a run-down convenience store on Seminole Boulevard. It’s a fourth of the size as the original location, but it works.

"We have been very surprised how busy it’s been and how many more projects we have picked up, it’s just amazing,” Carter said.

The Carters found hope to move forward in some items they were able to recover from the fire. They found two floral lamp shades that survived without a scratch and a clock that belonged to Carter’s wife’s father. The clock is black and melted and the hour and minute hands are stopped at the exact time the fire started.

"It was like pulling out a million dollars,” Carter’s wife, Sharon, said. “It was my father’s clock and meant the world to me and having it, I don’t need anything else."

Debbie Allen, who owned a salon in the strip mall, also found hope in what she recovered from the fire.

"The first dollar I ever got is from my sister’s friend and it says 'for my first million' and it’s the only thing that survived,” Allen said.

Allen is now renting a chair at Goldilocks’ Salon on Clearwater Largo Road, but has bigger plans.

"My goal is to keep working, get the building back in there and open my shop back up and try it again,” Allen said.

Messages to the Fireplace Restaurant owner weren’t returned. It’s unclear if he plans on rebuilding in the same location.