LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A Little Rock business is back up and running Thursday, just shy of the nine-week mark since the March 31 tornado that swept through parts of central Arkansas caused extensive damage.

The Colony West shopping center was one of several areas nearby that was devastated by the natural disaster.

We first introduced you to the location the day of that tornado, with several businesses destroyed. One of those stores was Rock City Running.

The store reopened with a new storefront on Rodney Parham Thursday, just two months after the tornado.

Owner, Bill Torrey said he is thankful to reopen, though it has been in the works since just a few days after the tornado came through. He said once they determined that all of their employees were okay, they began discussing how and when to get the store back up and running.

Torrey said their reopening also came with the help of their generous running community, who helped raise approximately $56,000.

While the soft opening was June 1, the store will have its Grand Opening this Saturday, June 3.

Manager Annette Blanton said reopening brought a sense of the ‘runners high’ to employees.

“Running is painful-or it can be-but you just keep going,” Blanton said. “I feel like we are getting those runners endorphins by being able to reopen and be here for everybody again.”

Just two stores down is Jess’s Brows and Beauty Bar, another store that was destroyed in Colony West during the tornado. That store was also just feet away from Rock City at the time of the disaster, and now is feet away for the second time.

The manager said they are thankful to be so close to Rock City Running again and feel they have neighbors to lean on if anything were to ever happen again.