ROGERS, Ark. — One of Rogers' most famous burger and milkshake shops Susie Q Malt Shop was destroyed by the tornado early Sunday morning after being in business for almost 64 years.
The manager and future owner of the restaurant Jeana Lynn-Miller says she is still in disbelief.
"That's my future and it's gone," Lynn-Miller said. "It’s devastating, there's pictures on Facebook of me crying on the sign."
Although she is devastated, Lynn-Miller says she still has hope for the future of Susie Q.
"I hope and pray that our landlord will let us rebuild and if not we're going to be looking for a food truck or a new place to move because Susie's is not going anywhere. We got too many loyal customers," Lynn-Miller said.
Lynn-Miller's mom has owned Susie Q for 22 years and was planning to take over soon to keep the beloved restaurant in the family.
"I've been here 17 years. My plan was to take it over from her. I mean, it went from family to family, staying in the family, and we just want to keep it that way."
Lynn-Miller says she's grateful her customers have been so supportive.
"I've had so many people stop and check on us. Just the community coming together. It's been great," she said.
She’s just grateful everyone is okay.
"Nobody was here. Everybody's safe. All of our employees are safe. All their houses are safe. We were blessed. We were blessed that nobody was here," she added.
Rep. Steve Womack, the former mayor of Rogers, said he was devastated to see the damage across our community, especially at a Rogers landmark like Susie Q.
Customers coming by also expressed their disbelief.
"I've been coming to Suzie Q's for a long time," one Rogers resident said. "And I'm sorry, I didn't get one more chance to get a hamburger and a milkshake over there. And I'm just so sad about it. Very sad."
"I'm sad because it was kind of a staple of downtown Rogers," another resident said. "It was like everyone passed by it all the time. They were like, 'Oh, that was a cute little family-owned restaurant.'"
Susie Q first announced they were hit by Sunday's storm on Facebook. Through this post, many customers reached out in the comments offering help with funding and cleaning up for the shop's rehabilitation.
If you want to help Susie Q rebuild, you can donate to their GoFundMe here.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.