EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — A two-alarm fire heavily damaged a South Jersey furniture store on Tuesday afternoon.

The fire srupted about 1 p.m. at the Bless Home Furniture store on the Black Horse Pike (Route 322), located near the southbound Garden State Parkway.

It sent black smoke across the Parkway. Crews managed to contain the fire to the back of the store.

It's not known how many employees and customers  were inside the store when the fire started.

Firefighters also battled the elements as the temperature was in the lower 30s, according to New Jersey 101.5 Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

The store was formerly an American Appliance store.

Route 322 was closed in both directions as of 2:45 p.m.

Bargaintown, Scullville, Pleasantville, Somers Point Cardiff, and West Atlantic City fire departments assisted with the fire.

A cause of the fire was under investigation.

Chris Coleman, Jennifer Constabile, Chelsea Corrine and Ashley Surkin contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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