Seventeen years after an out-of-control fire first gutted Regent Household Plus, the beloved downtown Guyana department store has been struck by disaster again: a fast-spreading inferno tore through the multi-story concrete building on September 9, 2026, leaving millions in inventory destroyed and putting dozens of workers at risk of sudden unemployment.
Shaheed Hamid, owner of the long-standing Regent Street business, confirmed to reporters on the scene that the previous destructive blaze at the property dates back to 2009. In a rare stroke of luck amid the devastation, Hamid confirmed all employees made it out of the burning structure safely, with no injuries reported in connection to the incident.
While fire crews managed to contain the majority of the blaze within the bounds of Regent Household Plus, neighboring DM’s Beauty World—an adjacent retail outlet located to the west of the affected building—suffered extensive secondary damage. The beauty retailer’s stock suffered widespread water damage from firefighting efforts, and its exterior facade was heavily scorched by intense heat from the main fire.
As of Wednesday evening, officials had not yet confirmed the root cause of the ignition. Dwayne Scotland, Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the Guyana Fire Service, shared key timeline details with reporters on the ground: the department received the first emergency call about the fire at 1:03 PM local time. By the time crews gained some control of the blaze, the western end of the building had already collapsed under the intense heat.
Even after the fire was officially classified as under control after 5 PM, hotspots continued to flare up at the rear of the gutted store, and local residents voiced urgent fears that the blaze could spread to nearby wooden residential structures in the backyards off Charlotte Street. Fanned by a mild north-easterly wind, the residual fire kept crews working late into the afternoon; by 5:15 PM, firefighters had extended hose lines into the residential backyard area to prevent the blaze from jumping to neighboring properties.
Firefighters drew water for their operations from two primary sources: fire hydrants maintained by Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and the nearby South Road canal. City Mayor Alfred Mentore later publicly praised the response efforts of the firefighting team, noting their quick work prevented the fire from spreading to adjacent structures and limiting the overall scale of the damage.
For the local community and Regent Household Plus’ owner, the disaster marks a devastating second blow, decades after the business first rebuilt following the 2009 fire.