For more than 140 years, the House of Reeves was a landmark in Croydon, a family-run business that supplied generations of families as the area changed from a small town to a London suburb.
On Tuesday, it was a smouldering ruin, reduced to a shell in minutes by rioters who surged through the neighbourhood, looting and burning.
“I'm the fifth generation to run this place,” said owner Graham Reeves, looking puffy-eyed and shocked.
Edvin Reeves first opened the store in Croydon — which was then a separate town 15 km south of London and is now one of the capital's larger suburbs — in 1867. The store is now run by Mr. Graham and his older brother Mr. Trevor.
“I'm devastated. All my life was there,” said Graham Reeves. “I carried my wife across the threshold of the store 30 years ago.”
The 52-year-old was bewildered by the attack on the store.
“No one's stolen anything. They just burnt it down,” he said. “It's pointless.”
