Hampton St fire: Bakers Delight, Hampton Barber and Larsen and Co to open again soon
A ferocious fire followed by a global pandemic won’t stop a group of tenacious traders from reopening in Hampton St. Here’s why.
Inner South
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A popular string of Hampton shops is preparing to reopen, more than eight months after a fire tore through the strip.
The Hampton St businesses, which include Bakers Delight, Larsen and Co cafe and the Hampton barber, were forced to close or relocate after a major blaze on January 14.
Paul and Hayley Fyfield, who run the bakery, said since the fire traders had to endure both the destruction of their livelihoods and the lack of alternative work during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s been a difficult year,” Mr Fyfield said.
“The hardest thing about the fire was having to tell 22 staff that we didn’t have any work for them.
“There aren’t any other jobs for them at the moment because of coronavirus and none of us are eligible for JobKeeper because the fire happened before the pandemic began.”
The Narre Warren couple said repairs to the building were taking longer than expected.
“The building is old and a lot of elements didn’t comply with the building code. There was a lot of red tape to get through to bring them up to standard,” Mr Fyfield said.
However, support from neighbouring businesses, customers and Bakers Delight franchisees was heartening.
Bakers Delight Brighton took on four of the Hampton bakers and Hampton Fruit Centre – which was not affected by the fire – helped the barber open a pop up in a vacant shop next door.
Barber Amir Gholizadeh said the fire had been “a hidden blessing”.
The Carnegie man bought the business just four months before the fire but said customers and other traders had shown enormous loyalty.
“This is my first year in my first business. My partner Zakia and I had out first child – Ayma – 16 months ago. The fire felt like a disaster at the start. But it has shown me how supportive and kind this community is,” he said.
“The fruit shop offered me their vacant shop on a month by month lease and before I had to close because of coronavirus, the customers came as often as they could.
“They brought in other family members and friends for haircuts and promised to come back as soon as we are allowed to re-open.”
Mr Fyfield was hoping repairs would be finished in October.
“We can’t wait to fire up the oven again and I’m sure there will be a big celebration when we do open again,” he said.
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