Business & Tech

SUV Knocks Out Forget-Me-Not's Front Windows

Store owner Dora Lathrop said she knows the elderly driver who crashed into her store didn't do it intentionally, but the accident may hurt her Plainfield Fest sales.

Here's one phone call you never want to receive: Your insurance agent letting you know someone has just driven through your store's two front windows.

Dora Lathrop can laugh -- sort of -- now that more than 24 hours have passed, but it was a shock Monday afternoon to find the back end of an SUV lodged inside her store at 24038 Lockport St.

"(The elderly driver) was pulling out of a parking place and he stepped on the gas while he was in reverse and went right into the store," Lathrop said.

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It could have been far worse, however, had the store been open and she, a customer or the driver injured in the crash, she said, so she's trying to be philosophical.

And practical. She spent Tuesday cleaning up the displays and merchandise that were knocked over and broken so she could be open for Tuesday night's downtown Cruise Night. And she had her fingers crossed the accident might lure in the curious and end up goosing sales a little.

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It will be more problematic during Plainfield Fest this weekend, however, when thousands of people will descend on downtown and visit stores in addition to checking our carnival rides and live music, Lathrop said. Without the "Forget-Me-Not" name on her windows and the view of her wares from the outside, she's worried customers may walk right by the anonymous looking storefront that makes the store appear closed or empty, she said.

Also problematic is the windows may take longer than normal to replace because of the age and structure of the building, Lathrop said.

"It's really inconvenient," she said.

 

** Editor's note: An incorrect address was originally published for Forget-Me-Not in this story. It's been corrected.


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