Fair City shoe shop forced to close after fire

A PERTH shoe shop has been forced to close after a fire “wiped out” its entire inventory.

Petit Pas, on Scott Street, announced on Thursday that the business will be “paused” for the foreseeable future.

Smoke damage from a fire at the Blue Lagoon next door in January led to all its stock becoming unusable.

The business had been temporarily closed since the January 29 fire.

Petit Pas is owned by Lori McGaffney, who is also the president of the Perthshire Chamber of Commerce and owns Evalucia in the city centre.

In a post on Facebook, she said: “It’s with much sadness we announce that we will have to hit pause on Petit Pas as a business.

“The smoke damage at the end of January wiped out the store’s entire inventory, which was soul-destroying.

“Add to this already existing building issues relating to water ingress and damp – we had been trying hard with little success to ensure these issues had been resolved.

“Meaning post smoke damage, reopening in our current store just wasn’t looking like an option.

“We are still a young business, factoring all costs into the equation, buying ourselves out a lease, moving costs, rates, significantly increased stock costs we feel it’s just not currently viable, or sensible to do so.”

She added: “Our customers, thank you so much for your loyalty, we are so grateful.

“We can’t believe the growing customer database we’ve managed to build.

“We’ve loved every minute of it and I know the team took great pleasure and pride in providing you all with their first shoes, toddlers’ shoes, school shoes and every other precious pair of shoes they’ve fitted.

“If anyone might be interested in taking on the name, customer base and any fixtures and fittings, we would be happy to discuss this.”

Lori McGaffney declined to comment when approached by The Tele.