Businessman Pete Boyle was enjoying a holiday in Croatia on August 28 last year when he was informed of the Primark fire.
As the owner of jewellery firm Argento, which has a branch on Royal Avenue just a short distance from Bank Buildings, the general manager of the store had sent him a photo of the "very small fire" to let him know.
Initially, he said he "didn't think more about it".
At 6pm, an update informed him that Primark had "burnt to the ground"
Staff at the store had been "evacuated straightaway" and when Pete arrived back in Belfast the following day, he realised he "had a bigger problem" than first thought.
One year on from the blaze, Peter describes what happened as "catastrophic", recalling how traders were left frustrated by a lack of action by city leaders.
"It was the scale of the incident," said the Strabane-born businessman.
"We have insurance for catastrophic failure, we don't use the insurance for minor claims. This was the one time we got the policy out to see where it stood. Nobody knew what was going to happen.
"The in-action from the start was shocking. It went on for months. We were getting really worried.
"After a month they still hadn't figured out what they were doing".
As the weeks went by and with the start of the Christmas shopping season on the horizon, and 12 staff to look after, Pete made the decision to temporarily relocate his store to Cornmarket, where he opened at the start of November.
"Our suppliers are dependent on us selling their products," he said.
"We got on and opened the second store. It went very well."
However, the Argento owner said it came at a time when the Glider service was introduced and "getting to city was more difficult" with "more bus lanes" and less car parking spaces.
"We were stressed to a point," he said.
"I can deal with big problems reasonably well. It was out of my hands. We had a great insurance policy, that took the pressure off me. There was nothing we could do and there was time we gave up trying to influence decisions.
"The council wasn't consulting anyone, whether we liked it or not. Nobody seemed to realise the importance of Christmas. It seemed to be completely passing by. They did open (the cordon) too late for a lot of retailers."
The businessman said a "festival of red tape" held up the recovery process.
"It was a catastrophic failure for the city and nowadays, nobody wants to sign off on anything and that's just the way it's done these days," he said.
"They needed to get a get a huge number of people to agree. This decision making just went on and on and on. We were screaming at them to make a decision, get on with it and start".
One year on, Pete said Belfast city "as a whole is struggling".
"Belfast has had a really good tourism season but the snag is, they leave at some point," he said.
"Tourism is not particularly linked to retail. That won't replace a lack of shoppers. We are doing pretty well, we are down but we could be worse. Retail as a whole is not doing well. It's a worrying time".
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Father-of-three Arthur McAnerney was on a day off when he received a call to say Primark was on fire.
The Carlingford businessman, who co-owns casual restaurant City Picnic with business partner Gavin Gregg, is located just yards from Primark on Castle Street. Initially he was told it was a "small fire".
The pair, who employed 15 staff at the busy eatery, "made a call" while on the phone to close the business for safety reasons, despite having no approach from the Fire Service.
When Arthur reached his business, he said the fire at Primark was "raging" and he quickly realised it was a "catastrophic event".
He revealed that just minutes after his staff had pulled in the eatery's street furniture, the windows in Primark had begun to "crack and smash on to the street".
"I was there within an hour-and-a-half," he said.
"We knew it was a significant event.
"By the time I got there, Primark was a goner. You quickly understood what was going to happen and it was going to potentially close Castle Street".
Arthur said it was a worrying time for traders.
"We had all our eggs in one basket in that business and we had no idea what the result was going to be financially. The work we had put in, building up the right team.
"Everyone was in a very difficult position. The council tried their best to deal with it. They held meetings, which we attended. It was important that we did, but we were able to make our voice heard. We helped secure the opening of Castle Street. There was definitely an option to close Castle Street for three years. I felt the council wanted to help Primark resolve the problem - let's help them and as a result, not thinking about the wee guys".
The businessman said the last 12 months have been a "very frustrating time" as City Picnic has not re-opened.
"For seven months we had no access because the building was not secure. You were sitting with your hands tied, watching your business dissolve. We built a great relationship with customers and you could see them customers eating elsewhere. That was very frustrating".
Arthur said the team finally got access to the building on March 20 this year.
"A lot of that time was spent just making our voices heard in council, keeping an eye on what decisions were being made that could potentially affect us in future," he said.
"We had significant smoke damage and because of the time that had passed, the whole interior was just a write-off. It was a catastrophic loss is how you would classify it in the insurance world.
"It was an extremely complex journey and a constant uphill battle. You had to demonstrate your loss to an unbelievable level of detail even though we had the foresight to have a good insurance policy".
A year on from the fire, Arthur said the plan is for him and his business partner to "reinvest in the business", revealing City Picnic will re-open at the same location in October.
"It's going to be better than it ever was," he said.
"We have come up with a new design that is going to offer us a much more comfortable environment," he said.
"It will definitely take us into the evening time. We are going to do breakfast as well. We have lots of delicious additions.
He added: "We have just finalised getting the cost of reopening so we can push the button.
"We start work in two weeks and we expect to open mid-October.
"It has been very challenging but myself and Gavin are the type of people, when we get knocked down, we get up stronger".
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Kathleen McGovern has described the past 12 months of her life as "traumatic".
An independent, small business owner, the Fermanagh-born woman was forced to evacuate her Castle Street shop, Abacus Beads , shortly after the fire engulfed Bank Buildings.
The businesswoman had time to simply lock the doors, abandon her stock and leave, unsure when we would be allowed to return.
The next few days were a worrying time for the shop owner who was left fearing for her future.
When she learned one week later that Castle Street would be close for months, she made plans to temporarily relocate, opening a shop in Queen's Arcade on November 5.
Four months later, she reopened the original Abacus Beads on Castle Street on the day the street reopened, March 23.
Speaking as the first anniversary of the Primark fire approaches, the business woman said the experience left her "on the brink of a nervous breakdown".
"It has been traumatic," she said.
"When I look back, at the initial weeks especially, I was actually was on the brink of a nervous breakdown really because the whole uncertainly, not knowing what would happen, taking so long for decisions to be made, it just was difficult to know what you were going to do yourself and how you could process moving forward.
"We were waiting to hear about how long the cordon would be up and how long the street would be closed. It seemed an eternity to get that time frame. It was a week before they said street would be closed for at least four months. I knew it would be worth my while to open up somewhere else".
Kathleen, who has owned Abacus Beads for 27 years, 15 of which have been spent on Castle Street, said she hoped lessons could be learned from the experience.
"I don't think the people who were handling it appreciated the view point of small business people," she said.
"It's different with big companies, they have other branches, the likes of Tesco and McDonalds, were able to redeploy staff and they were still getting their wage package at the end of the month. They didn't have that stress. A small business person doesn't have that".
She added: "I think the problem was that is seemed to be when we were looking for answers, no one person or organisation was making the decision.
"If you asked a question, you were being referred to one person or another. No person wanted to take responsibility. It was an unprecedented situation. I thought they would have had a system in place. I thought they would have had something more solid to deal with a crisis like that. Have one body of people, one panel of people who are the decision and have an emergency plan in place".
Kathleen said she now feels like she is "back on track from a business point of view".
"Mentally and emotionally, I don't think I am," she said.
"It's really difficult. Everybody who comes into the shop wants to talk about it. Every time it's mentioned, it emotionally and mentally drags me back to the horror of it. You just want to move forward at this stage. I know people are coming from a good place and showing concern".
