Two Regent Street stores were destroyed and millions in stock lost after the building housing them was gutted by fire early yesterday morning.
Julius Variety Store which was housed on the bottom flat of the two-storey building at 135 Regent Street and C and C Prestigeous Styles housed on the upper flat were gutted by the fire-the origin of which is still to be determined. Firefighters managed to contain the fire to the building.
Chikere Stewart, the wife of the owner ofC and C Prestigeous Styles told Stabroek News that they received a call at about 3:20 am alerting them to the fire and rushed down to the location. “The firefighters were already here and they were trying to contain the fire, out the fire and they were successful in doing it,” she said.
Stewart said that the fire appeared to have started at the storefront of the Julius Variety Store, owned by her brother, Julius Mentis, but they have not been able to determine what caused the blaze. By 4:30am, the firefighters were able to put out the flames, she said.
C and C Prestigeous Styles sold designer brands of clothing while the Julius Variety Store sold items for babies as well as electronics and household appliances. Stewart said that they did not get to save anything and losses are in the millions. “It’s a lot. We really can’t estimate it,” she added.
She said that they were fully insured. Relatives gathered at the scene yesterday even as two policemen were on the spot guarding the site. Stewart said that the business has been in the family for a number of years.
Several Regent Street businesses have been destroyed by fires in recent times. In July, four stores in three buildings on the northern side of Regent Street between Camp and Alexander streets were gutted by fire. It was later determined that the blaze was caused by flimsy electrical wiring.
Earlier, in April, a fire destroyed a building containing six stores at the corner of Regent and Wellington streets. Fire Chief Marlon Gentle later confirmed that the April 1 fire that gutted the Jaigobin Complex was as a result of arson. The complex housed stores which sold cosmetics, garments, cloth and electronics. To date the businesses that were housed in the complex are yet to make a new start and the site remains with no evidence to indicate a plan to rebuild.
Investigations into this latest fire are continuing.
