PHUKET: Two young men who made a citizens' arrest to nab a robber armed with a knife as he fled a 24-hour store on Phuket early today have been hailed as heroes.

The drama at 3.40am today brought SuperCheap back into the news when the man with the knife tried to rob one of their 44 Phuket smaller local stores.

Looking on from the other side of Samkong's Yaowarat Road in Phuket City were Phuket man Ronnarit Chuenkrin, 21, and his friend from Phang Nga, Pollawat Kaensup.

The pair were sitting outside a house and got a front-row view as the robber waved the knife inside the store and took 4000 baht in cash from the terrified staff.

Deciding to intervene, the friends crossed the road and jumped the thief as he left the store, having put the knife back into a pants pocket.

Khun Ronnarit and Khun Pollawat held the man until police arrived. Back at Phuket Police Station, the man confessed and gave his name as Narucha.

A holdup is bad news but all appeared to have ended well for SuperCheap - much as it has with the disastrous fire not far away at the main store in Thepkasattri Road.

Although the store was razed, the blaze fortunately failed to kill ''hundreds,'' as some news outlets anticipated prematurely.

Today the toll remained at zero, with the business already rapidly recovering through a makeshift marketplace nearby.