The Century 21 discount department store was evacuated Tuesday after a fire in the basement of its building in lower Manhattan.
Authorities said the blaze broke out in the motor room below the elevators, and smoke billowed up into the store. FDNY said the blaze was extinguished after about 75 firefighters responded, but they worked longer to contain the smoke.
"We were on the second floor when we saw smoke and the fire alarms were going off and they started telling everybody to evacuate," said Ashley Barton, a shopper in the store at the time.
Eric McGowan, another shopper, said the smoke "wasn't too thick... it wasn't choking you or anything."
The cause of the fire was not immediately determined.
--Andrew Siff contributed to this story
