Family confident NT Oriental Emporium will be back in time for Christmas

OWNERS of the fire-ravaged NT Oriental Emporium are close to securing a new temporary site and are confident they will be back in time for Christmas

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OWNERS of the fire-ravaged NT Oriental Emporium at Coconut Grove are close to securing a new temporary site and are confident they will be back up and running at the new location in time for Christmas.

It is understood the business is in talks about a nearby site for the next two years while the current site is cleared and a new store built.

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The Lay Group’s Chris Lay said while they were still to secure a new site the family-run business was trying to “line everything up and make it work”.

Mr Lay said the family group was in the midst of getting everything together for the temporary store.

He said stock ordered before the fire was still coming.

NT Oriental Emporium apparently being bulldozed after it was lit on fire. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

“That’s part of the work we are doing at the moment,” Mr Lay said.

“We want to be back in business by Christmas, that’s the aim, but I can’t tell you any more at this stage.”

Some of the destroyed back section of the NT Oriental Emporium has now been cleared to make the site safe.

The business was set alight by a mystery arsonist who was captured on CCTV setting fire to an accelerant, believed to be fuel, in the early hours of October 8.

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The footage shows the arsonist momentarily engulfed in a ball of flame that experts believe would have caused burns to the face.

The arsonist is then seen sprinting from the fire towards Nightcliff.

NT Oriental Emporium specialises in the import and sale of Asian groceries and shop goods.

In May 2018, the family’s Asian United Food Service warehouses on Bishop Street, Woolner, were gutted by fire.