A RETAIL store was closed yesterday after being gutted in an arson attack.
Police said there was enough evidence to suggest a fire that ripped through the back of Poundstretcher, in Heanor Retail Park, was started intentionally.
Customers arrived to find a note on the door stating: "Due to a power failure, we are unable to open (at) present."
A short walk round the back of the retail store revealed why the electricity was not working.
Fire damage that will cost thousands of pounds to put right had gutted the back of the shop.
Teddy bears, toys, board games, cushions and slippers were among the items strewn across the ground – all blackened with soot.
The fire broke out in broad daylight at 6.30pm on Sunday evening. Three crews from Ilkeston, Heanor and Kingsway stations were dispatched after 25 calls to 999 were made.
A large number of pallets outside the building were alight and the flames had spread to the shop.
The blaze was brought under control but firefighters worked into the night to make sure the building would not collapse.
Derbyshire police confirmed the shop was closed at the time of the fire and that nobody was injured.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the force said there was enough evidence to suggest the incident was an arson attack.
She said: "We do believe the fire was started deliberately and we are yet to make any arrests."
Customer Pauline Hadcock, 34, had gone to Heanor Retail Park, in High Street, to buy some sweets for her three young children.
She said: "You wouldn't know there had been a fire looking at the store from the front.
"The sign says there's been a power failure – there's nothing to suggest a fire.
"I don't know who would want to set fire to a store – what's the point? It was probably some mindless idiot who was bored and thought it would be fun to do it."
It is the second arson attack in Heanor in the space of five weeks.
On June 8, flames tore through the play area at Banana Moon nursery, in Wilmot Street, in the early hours.
Police said there was no evidence to suggest the two incidents are linked.
Anyone with information about either incident should call police on 101.
