Cradley store damaged in fire reopens for business
A convenience store has reopened after up to £40,000 of restoration work in the wake of a blaze which forced it to close for almost two months.
Staff kept the fire-hit Safebuys store in Cradley going by allowing customers to collect newspapers and goods at the front door daily.
Dozens of bottles of alcohol and scores of cigarettes went up in flames in the blaze at the store in Colley Lane on July 13.
Five people in a neighbouring flat got out of the building before the fire took hold. It caused significant damage inside the store especially around the till kiosk.
More than £5,000 of alcohol and cigarettes which were on shelves behind the counter in the shop were destroyed.
Thousands of pounds of other stock, such as groceries and greetings cards, suffered smoke and fire damage.
Owner Raf Ali, aged 30, said major damage was caused to the electrics with alarm and air conditioning systems destroyed.
"The force of the blaze caused so much damage inside the shop," he said.
"We'll probably never quite know what caused the damage, but it is believed to be an electrical fault.
"When these things happen you just don't realise how much damage it can actually cause and closing the shop is tough as it is your livelihood that is affected.
"Our customers were great and stuck with us while the shop was closed.
"We wanted to allow customers to still pick up their newspapers and keep that link with the community."
A passerby raised the alarm at around 2.40am on the day of the fire.
Crews crews spent more than three hours at the scene extinguishing the blaze and damping down.
The family had only taken over at the shop, near St Peter's Church, in December and were trying to get the business flourishing when the fire took hold.
"It was tough as we had only just started," Mr Ali said.
"That's why we are so pleased that we are back up and running as we were closed for weeks."
