{"id":86901,"date":"2026-09-03T07:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T07:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/86901\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T07:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T07:13:25","slug":"business-owners-still-struggling-one-year-after-devastating-morley-market-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/86901\/","title":{"rendered":"Business owners still struggling one year after devastating Morley Market fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year on from a devastating fire which destroyed a shopping centre in Perth’s north-east, the pain for business owners who lost what they had spent years working on is still raw.<\/p>\n

“Seven years I worked hard for my business, and in one night I lost everything,” said Mojgan Fakhar, who owned Frida Tattoo Studio at the Morley Market.<\/p>\n

“For like two or three weeks \u2026 I couldn’t even think \u2026 it was really hard.”<\/p>\n

Ms Fakhar’s business was one of many ruined in the fire, which last September gutted the shopping centre that had stood in the heart of Morley for decades.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mojgan Fakhar says she found the weeks after the fire extremely difficult. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n

The market housed more than 20 stores and restaurants, most of which were family-run.<\/p>\n

While some have managed to re-establish their businesses at other sites, others are still on the hunt for somewhere to start again.<\/p>\n

Mohammad Frahim, who ran Monte Carlo Hairstylists, a barber shop within the complex, said despite his best efforts, finding a new site had so far proven impossible.<\/p>\n

“It’s very hard to re-establish; some people they get a chance, they can do it, some people \u2026 are not getting that chance,” Mr Frahim said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mohammad Frahim and his wife Salma Bano lost their entire business in the Morley Market blaze. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n

“I’m trying to get back to my business, but it’s very hard, because you need a lot of money as well.<\/p>\n

“Every day I’m looking in the marketplace, and for any barber shop for sale, but it’s hard to find.”<\/p>\n

Morley Market businesses call for financial aid<\/a><\/p>\n

Business owners affected by a fire which gutted a shopping centre in Perth’s north-east are calling for state government support as they begin the recovery process.<\/p>\n

Ms Fakhar has moved into a smaller site nearby, but it’s an ongoing battle.<\/p>\n

“Emotionally I’ve tried to get back to normal, but still it’s not normal or the same as before.<\/p>\n

“I rebuilt it, not as big as before, not as equipped as before, but I tried my best to have a nice place for my clients again.”<\/p>\n

Cause still unknown<\/p>\n

In a bitter blow to business owners, authorities could not determine the cause of the fire because of the severe level of damage.<\/p>\n

A Department of Fire and Emergency Services debrief document written after the blaze, seen by the ABC, details problems identified during its investigation, including that a “local alarm” was not operational.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The fire quickly took hold of the building in September 2025. (ABC News: Gian De Poloni)<\/p>\n

The debrief said “early detection of the fire would have occurred” if the local alarm had been working and it might have resulted in early containment.<\/p>\n

For business owners, that was a tough pill to swallow.<\/p>\n

Mina Eshan, who lost more than $200,000 worth of assets when Bella Skin Clinic was gutted in the fire, said there were still too many unanswered questions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mina Eshan still does not have all the answers she needs. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n

“It’s not just about money or compensation, it’s about something like this not happening again, and not putting other people’s lives in danger,” she said.<\/p>\n

Insurance proving tricky<\/p>\n

A number of business owners say they have run into problems getting any of what they lost back through insurance, with some left to regret not having taken out contents protection.<\/p>\n

“That was my biggest mistake,” Mr Frahim said.<\/p>\n

“I had public liability insurance for the shop, but not the contents.<\/p>\n

“Three or four times I called [the insurance company], and the receptionist [said] he will call me, but I never got a call back.”<\/p>\n

\"Demolition<\/p>\n

The market was demolished after fire gutted the building. (ABC News: Kenith Png)<\/p>\n

Mr Frahim said the owners of the destroyed businesses were in desperate need of government support.<\/p>\n

“The government should take some decision for the shopkeepers as well, who don’t have insurance, who lost the business, lost everything, so somewhere we need help as well.”<\/p>\n

The City of Bayswater said it had done what it could to support the affected businesses.<\/p>\n

“The city quickly established a recovery hub at Morley Library, partnering with a number of agencies and arranging for translators to be onsite across community drop-in sessions, aimed at providing support and advice to affected business owners, employees, tenants and customers,” Bayswater Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Morley Market is now a vacant site, as pictured from an aerial photo in June. (Supplied: Nearmap)<\/p>\n

“Space was also made available at Morley Library for appointments between service providers and impacted business owners.”<\/p>\n

Ms Piffaretti said the city had not yet received any applications to redevelop the site, which remained vacant and fenced off.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a multi-million-dollar upgrade of the Morley Galleria shopping centre is well and truly underway across the road.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Morley Galleria shopping centre is undergoing a renovation. (ABC News: Gian De Poloni)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One year on from a devastating fire which destroyed a shopping centre in Perth’s north-east, the pain for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[144977,844,144972,144975,144971,144974,144976,144969,144973,144970,335,5656,463,464],"class_list":["post-86901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-coventry-markets","tag-fire","tag-galleria","tag-morley","tag-morley-businesses","tag-morley-fire","tag-morley-galleria","tag-morley-market","tag-morley-market-burned-down","tag-morley-market-fire","tag-perth","tag-perth-fire","tag-perth-news","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}