While most of Parkway Parade has re-opened for business since last Friday after a fire there two Sundays ago, five shops remained closed yesterday.
The shops that were still shut were on Level 2 and included clothing store Fox Kids and Baby, where the fire was believed to have broken out.
Employees and contractors at the shops were seen cleaning their premises when The Straits Times visited the mall yesterday and on Monday.
At the second level of Isetan, staff wearing face masks were cleaning the store, which still had traces of black soot on the floor.
The fire, as well as water from the mall’s sprinkler system triggered by the blaze, had damaged the fixtures and goods of some shops.
Mothercare is expected to be closed for another two weeks, said its executive director Pang Fu Wei. “About $400,000 worth of stock was damaged,” he told ST.
“All the goods that were on the shop floor – we cannot sell them any more. We are a kids’ (merchandise) retailer and there might be chemicals in the air that could have affected the goods.
We are now discussing with the insurance company how to deal with the damaged goods,” Mr Pang said.
An employee of education toy shop Growing Fun said that the store is likely to remain closed for another week or two for renovation works, as the fire had “made the floor black”.
Seed Heritage and Supercuts on the second floor also remained closed.
But 98 per cent of the mall’s more-than-250 stores have re- opened for business, the mall said on Monday.
Japanese clothing store Uniqlo, which is in the basement, reopened on Monday. Its store manager said external contractors took two days to clear the mess caused by the fire.
“It was flooded all across the floor. The water was about 2cm deep. We had to clear the water and separate the products that were affected,” he said. “But business has returned to normal for us.”
A supervisor for Chateau De Sable, a kids’ apparel store on Level 2 that re-opened on Friday, said: “The clothes that were on display have all been removed.
They were covered in soot and had a burnt smell,” she said.
No one was hurt during the blaze, but it damaged the mall’s fire protection system cabling, which had to be replaced.
The mall was closed for four days for inspections and tests last week.
Housewife and Marine Parade resident Sheila Naidu, 53, was glad to be back at the mall on Monday.
“Except for a slight burnt smell on the second floor, it doesn’t seem like there had been a fire. People are still streaming in, like any other day,” she said.
xueqiang@sph.com.sg
mellinjm@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on May 25, 2016.
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