Passersby watched on in shock as a beloved Busselton op shop The Match Factory was damaged in a fire on Saturday evening taking crews four hours to extinguish the blaze.
A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson said the fire was first reported at 5.19pm and was attended to by seven fire crews and volunteers from Busselton, Dunsborough and Bunbury.
Busselton Police closed Kent Street for several hours while fire crews battled the blaze.
The spokesperson said there was around $300,000 in damage and the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
The Match Factory chairperson Yvonne Robinson said after the initial shock she felt great gratitude that noone was in the building when the fire broke out.
"I want to express my great gratitude to the emergency services who attended the fire," she said.
The Match Factory Op Shop is run by volunteers, and were meeting on Monday to be brought up to speed on the disaster.
Ms Robinson said depending on what insurers said they could potentially still run their food shop located at the back of the store.
She said once they knew what position they were in they would look for an alternative premises to run the op shop.
