A New York nail salon was brazenly set alight, causing at least $100,000 worth of damages with shocking security footage showing a man casually igniting a blaze.
Manicurist Jenny Bui couldn’t have been more excited to soon open her new Bronx premises on East Tremont Avenue in Throgs Neck – but her dreams were dashed when she got a text message telling her it was all up in flames.
Bui, who is manicurist to celebrities like Cardi B, has been left devastated, and now, the New York City Fire Department has arrested Sui’s husband, Nguyen Bui, who is now facing arson charges.
Security footage taken from September 28 shows inside the salon, just a few weeks before it was set to open.
A man is seen lighting napkins on fire and throwing them at stacks of brown boxes before casually leaving the room.
The CCTV clip then shows the salon filling up with smoke and a huge fire building, before spreading throughout the premises.
Nguyen has been charged with arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
According to the FDNY, units responded to reports of a fire at the location on September 28th and noted that the flames originated in the center of the store in a pile of boxes and stock. The new salon was meant to open on October 27.
Officials said the accused told them his wife was ‘driving him crazy over all the work she wanted done to open the store, and he snapped under the pressure.’
The mammoth blaze damaged the salon’s new nail stations with white marble counters, elaborate chandeliers and $12,000 massage chairs with custom crystal sinks.
Jenny had also invested $10,000 in OPI and Valentino nail polish products and $3,000 in Swarovski crystals. None of these items could be recovered.
She had just returned from taking care of her sick brother in Canada and landed at the airport when a neighbor next door to the salon called to tell her about the tragedy.
‘I thought it was a joke. I drove so fast, I almost got into a car accident. Everything was gone – I was about to pass out,’ she said.
Shalu Malik, a nearby business owner, commented on the possibility of Nguyen starting the fire and said: ‘I never think he did it because when they had the fire, the husband came. He was crying.’
On her GoFundMe page, Jenny wrote that she couldn’t file for an insurance claim because the salon had not officially opened and was forced to crowdfund.
‘I am so heart broken and sad everything I worked hard for all taken away, I am asking for help to rebuild my dream salon and get my business and family to have faith again thank you, everyone. Any little counts’, she said.
The mother-of-five met Cardi B, then a dancer and aspiring artist, five years ago.
While Jenny did not do her nails the first time, Cardi later visited the salon and kept returning to work with Jenny.
She has now counted Cardi as a regular client, and also did her famous 2018 Grammy nails.
Photos of Jenny and Cardi are pinned up through out her other two NYC salons.
