JENSEN BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Jensen Beach boutique is back open today after an 82-year-old driver crashed through its storefront over the weekend, narrowly missing shoppers and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage during the height of the holiday season.<\/p>\n
The crash happened Sunday afternoon at Do-Over D\u00e9cor, a locally loved shop that features displays from nearly 30 Treasure Coast artists and vendors.<\/p>\n
Owner Denise Aragona says the driver was pulling in to park when she accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came through the door, the window,\u201d Aragona said. \u201cLuckily, she hit the support beam, which stopped her from traveling into the store further. We had customers in the store and workers here, so we are very thankful no one was injured. It could have been a lot worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surveillance video from inside shows the car smashing through the glass entrance and pushing debris across the sales floor \u2014 stopping just feet from several shoppers.<\/p>\n
Inside, Aragona said the aftermath looked like \u201cplants in places plants should never be.\u201d Dirt covered the floors. Merchandise was crushed. Tempered glass was scattered into furniture, displays and vendor items across the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found plants underneath furniture, all over the place \u2014 dirt inside everything,\u201d she said. \u201cThe glass was everywhere. We were pulling it out of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the chaos, Aragona and her team of vendors worked through the night to clean up and reopen Monday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were here all night sweeping up dirt from these little poor plants that didn\u2019t make it,\u201d she said. \u201cI have 29 vendors here who want to stay open. Everybody rolled up their sleeves and we got it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
See also: Border Patrol used hidden cameras to flag drivers hundreds of miles from the border: AP<\/a><\/p>\n A contractor temporarily secured the damaged windows and door with plywood. Aragona estimates the total cost to repair the storefront \u2014 including replacing the commercial glass, repairing electrical and drywall damage, fixing flooring, and replacing destroyed merchandise \u2014 will fall between $40,000 and $50,000.<\/p>\n The 82-year-old driver is being cited, according to the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office (MCSO). Deputies say the crash appears to have been an accident.<\/p>\n With just weeks left in the busiest shopping season of the year, Aragona hopes the community will help the 29 small businesses that rely on the store for income.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully customers will remember to come in and visit and help these vendors have a good season,\u201d she said. \u201cSupport her, support the store, support local. That\u2019s what we should be doing as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a> for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JENSEN BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Jensen Beach boutique is back open today after an 82-year-old driver crashed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-78098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}