The State - News from Dec. 26, 1988

Last-minute shoppers were evacuated Christmas Eve from the downtown San Francisco’s Woolworth’s Department Store after a fire broke out in a storeroom. No one was injured in the blaze that went to two alarms before firefighters were able to put it out 30 minutes later. The cause has not yet been determined, officials said. Traffic outside the store at Market and Powell streets had to be rerouted during the height of the last Christmas shopping day to make way for engines fighting the fire. The store was not badly damaged but will remain closed for several days while workers repair smoke and water damage on the main shopping floor and on an upper level where the fire started, officials said.