The shop selling ready-made dresses belong to one Murugesan of Adyar. The incident happened around 9.15 pm, said police.

While the shop was closed around 9 pm, people in the locality noticed smoke emanating from the showroom and alerted the owner and the fire control room.

Fire and Rescue Personnel and cops attached to Tiruvanmiyur station rushed to the spot and doused the fire around 10.30 pm before it spread to the adjacent shops. However, the entire showroom was gutted and dresses worth Rs 5 lakh were destroyed. A short circuit was suspected to be the reason behind the accident. Tiruvanmiyur police have registered a case and further investigation is on.

None were injured in the accident.