For well over a century, Jenners was one of the oldest department stores in the world, and while the shop itself has closed, it's hard to imagine Princes Street without the iconic Victorian building.
Images today showing the building ablaze have left locals in shock and hoping that there are no serious injuries and that the damage is not too significant.
The old Edinburgh institution has been with us for generations, and the famous building is quite simply irreplaceable.
READ MORE: Jenners Edinburgh fire: Historic building in flames as emergency crews race to scene
With a bit of luck, the damage won't be too great - after all it was a stroke of good fortune that helped establish the business in the first place.
The story goes that two English drapers, Charles Kennington and Charles Jenner, were working in Edinburgh store WR Spence in the 1830s.
Keen horse-racing fans, they decided to take a day off to go to Musselburgh Racecourse, which was as popular then as it is now.
It seems their boss at WR Spence wasn't particularly forgiving, and sacked the two of them when he found out.
This only seems to have sparked their entrepreneurial spirit, and on May 1, 1838 a new store, Kennington and Jenners, opened on 47 Princes Street.
It would trade in "the best in British and Parisian" fashion, offering "silks, shawls, fancy dresses, ribbons, lace, hosiery" as well as quality drapery.
The Edinburgh City Archives reveal the business continued in this name until Charles Kennington retired in 1861, later becoming Charles Jenner & Co.
When he retired, Charles Jenner sold the business to his junior partner James Kennedy in 1881.
Jenner continued to take an interest in the store in his retirement, but a devastating loss came in 1892 when it burned to the ground. Ominous indeed.
Sadly, he didn't live to see the grand reopening of the store in 1895.
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The Kennedy family and their descendants owned Jenners until it was sold to House of Fraser in 2005 for £46 million.
The building was eventually sold to Danish billionaire landowner Anders Povlsen and the department store closed for the final time in 2020.
Permission had been granted to transform the old Jenners building into a luxury hotel and bar with a boutique shopping court. These works are due to be completed by 2025.]
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