Source : Perth Now news
After 10 months of rebuilding, a much-loved Morley family business is welcoming customers back through its doors after a devastating fire destroyed Morley Market last year.
Bishop Street Newsagency, one of the dozens of stores which fell victim to the Morley Market fire in September, will reopen this week in new premises just around the corner from its former shop.
Their new home is at Shops 7 & 8, 60 Russell Street and is scheduled to open July 1. The family running the business has secured a 10-year lease.
The overnight blaze, which took 70 firefighters more than seven hours to control, reduced Morley Market to rubble, forcing businesses within the 1970s-built shopping centre to close.
Bishop Street Newsagency manager Peter Nguyen said the reopening marked the end of a emotional journey that began with a phone call in the early hours of September 3.
“We woke up really early in the morning and were told by one of our neighbours in Morley Market that the whole market was burning,” he said.
“By that time the fire had pretty much taken over half the markets, we couldn’t go in because of the biohazard.
“Every single shop in Morley Markets was burnt to a crisp. We couldn’t even go inside to salvage anything because there was nothing to salvage.
“It was so bad.”
Investigators determined the blaze was likely caused by an electrical fault and not deliberately lit.
The Nguyen family had traded from Shop 17 at the Morley Market for seven years, but the business itself has served the community for more than two decades.
“All the locals know us,” Mr Nguyen said.
“They come to us regularly for water and all sorts of things; we’d like to think we’re the go-to shop in that area.”
Mr Nguyen said many of the small business owners were unable to recover after being underinsured.
“We had insurance, but it wasn’t as much as we hoped,” he said.
“It was a common story with most of the Morley Market retailers that they weren’t insured high enough to cover for this sort of thing.”
While Bishop Street News is reopening, many of their neighbouring businesses may never return.
“A lot of them have basically decided to retire from that. It was that devastating for them,” Mr Nguyen said.
“I know a few of my neighbours had specialist equipment that they couldn’t replace. Once that was gone, they really couldn’t do well without it.
“No one was expecting a fire.”
Mr Nguyen said the local community was really supportive and helped the family begin rebuilding.
Big Don’s Smoked Meats began a fundraiser last year to help businesses get back on their feet, raising more than $105,000.
“We had to order new shelves for starters because all of our shelves were gone,” Mr Nguyen said.
“We managed to secure a lease in the building next door, so it’s literally just around the corner from the original shop.”
Mr Nguyen said finding a new location was not straightforward because his business sold Lotterywest products and had to stay close to the old location to keep their license.
“We are Bishop Street News, so we have to be on Bishop Street,” he said.
“The Lotterywest licence is location-based. You can’t move too far away from your original spot.”
“We’re really excited to finally be opening up with a lot of stuff inside the shop that’s ready to go,” Mr Nguyen said.
“I just hope that people notice us.”
The future of the former Morley Market site, which currently sits completely vacant, remains uncertain.
Mr Nguyen said the complex’s multiple owners would need to agree on what should happen next.
“Some people would like to sell it off and be done with it, and other people would wish that the place would come back,” he said.
“It’s really a matter of what everyone agrees upon.”
The City of Bayswater said it had no update about the future of the Morley Market site.
