When a tobacco shop opened next door, a Melbourne couple’s dream cafe went up in smoke: ‘It felt like a warzone’

For five months, Ashish Sharma and Manali Purohit scoured Facebook Marketplace for secondhand furniture, layered coats of paints on walls and installed plumbing to fit out their dream cafe.

“We put in basically all our life savings. We did a lot of it DIY,” says co-owner Sharma.

In July, the pair’s vegan cafe, And Bodega – a nod to the neighbourhood convenience stores synonymous with New York – opened in Melbourne’s North Fitzroy.

Within three months of beginning to serve customers, early on Monday morning 12 October, the cafe was severely damaged in a suspected arson attack that gutted the tobacco shop next door that had opened in recent weeks.

It comes amid a spate of firebombings targeting tobacconists across Melbourne, with hundreds hit since late 2023.

The day after the firebombing, about $5,000 worth of technology and equipment was stolen from the burnt-out cafe. When the couple entered the shop after the robbery, Sharma says it felt as if their “dream had been ripped away”.

“It felt like a warzone,” he says. “The roof had melted off – soot everywhere.”

The couple have set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for repairing and replacing equipment, paying outstanding staff and supplier costs and planning a new home for And Bodega.

“The only reason we’re positive is because of the people,” Sharma says. “It’s really overwhelming the love and support.”

Purohit, who grew up in Mumbai and trained as a pastry chef in India, says the couple have also received offers from fellow small businesses to donate portions of their profits to the couple, host fundraisers and drop off ice-cream.

“Words can’t describe just how seen and loved we feel,” she says.

Sharma says when a police officer was collecting CCTV from the couple, he remarked that all the local residents were asking about their cafe.

“He said I don’t know what you’ve done but everyone we speak to is asking about your cafe and is very sad it has been affected so you must have done some sort of magic,” he says.

Emergency services were called to respond to reports of an explosion on St Georges Road at about 3.40am on Monday.

Police investigators believe one or multiple offenders forced entry into the tobacco shop and set it alight.

One person who lives nearby told the ABC she felt her apartment building rocked by the force of the explosion.

The tobacconist was completely destroyed, while And Bodega and other neighbouring business were damaged, police said in a statement.

Guardian Australia has previously reported on how small businesses located near tobacconists are being denied insurance or priced out of coverage as rising arson attacks turn neighbouring shops into collateral damage.

The couple say their contents insurance, taken out prior to the tobacco store opening, is expected to provide a payout of about $25,000. But the funds are not expected to cover the costs of rebuilding the cafe at the same location.

Last month, new laws allowing inspectors to close stores that sell illegal tobacco products came into effect in Victoria.

The Victorian Coalition this week said the state government’s new closure powers “had barely made a dent” and vowed that if elected next month it would bolster laws and increase police presence to close down illegal retailers.

Sharma and Purohit hope to reopen And Bodega as a smaller hole-in-the-wall cafe serving baked goods and coffee.

“If we can restart, it’s at least one small way to fight against the violence,” Sharma says.