Suspicious fire at Geraldton’s Mercantile Club and Hippie Haven store causes $750k damage to historic building

A blaze that engulfed Geraldton’s historic Mercantile Club building is a suspected case of arson and left a damage bill estimated at about $750,000. Fire crews were called out to extinguish the fire on Wednesday night. Detectives are treating the blaze, which started about 10.30pm inside the two-storey building in Marine Terrace’s west end, as suspicious. The bottom floor is leased by popular clothing store Hippie Haven, while the top floor is a licensed premises rented out by a darts club three days a week. Department of Fire and Emergency service crews contained the blaze to the bottom floor, taking almost two hours to extinguish. A DFES spokesperson said they received a triple-0 call at 10.45pm about a fire on the bottom floor of the two-storey building. Six crews from contained the fire about 11.53pm, bringing it under control and extinguishing the blaze at 12.36am. “There was a fair bit of damage to the building and potential smoke and water damage to surrounding buildings,” the spokesperson said. Geraldton Detectives First Class Constable Jake Williams said the fire ignited at the rear of the premises and caught onto the top storey. Const Williams said the bakery next door to the Mercantile building was not affected by the fire. Officer-in-charge Detective Sen. Sgt Bruce McDonald said police were waiting for the building to cool down and be deemed safe before the examination could start. “We are still in the early stages of our investigation but are treating the fire as suspicious,” he said. Hippie Haven owners Tracey Pluschke and Karen Shanks said they were devastated their clothing store had been victim to the blaze, with most of the products damaged from the smoke. “Nearly the whole store has smoke damage,” Mrs Pluschke said. “Some (products) could be salvaged with washing but it’s pretty bad. All the windows are just black with the soot from the smoke. “We are devastated to lose the years of love put into this store.” Mrs Shanks said the fire started at the back of the building and was unsure how far it had spread into the store before it was contained. The store owners confirmed their business was insured, but it was unconfirmed whether the building was insured. The building was understood to have been constructed between 1893 and 1910. The Mercantile Club purchased the building in November 1949. During that time the property included the club premises, two shops, a billiard saloon, a dental surgery, a warehouse and a private residence. The Mercantile Club remained popular into the 1990s with more than 700 members at the club’s peak. In 2022, the club has just 50 members and had listed the building for sale to reduce costs. Geraldton Detectives ask anyone with information regarding the fire to come forward. Information that results in the conviction of an arson may be eligible for up to $25,000 reward.