Drivers crashed into Pierce County boutique twice this year. Repairs underway
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- Bloom Boutique was hit twice this year, in January and again recently.
- The driver said she accidentally accelerated after getting tangled between the pedals.
- The store is coordinating repairs and permanent barriers will be installed.
A Gig Harbor boutique is picking up the pieces after a car crashed into their store for the second time this year.
Bloom Boutique, a women’s clothing and jewelry store in the Uptown Gig Harbor shopping center, posted about the incident on their Instagram Sunday. The News Tribune reported that the boutique reopened in late March after making lengthy repairs, due to a wreck in January.
The store was cleared of merchandise when a reporter visited Bloom on Wednesday afternoon, and workers were inside making repairs. A hole in the wall facing the parking lot had been boarded up.
A sign on the door said that the business will be closed for approximately two weeks. In the meantime, Bloom has a shopping corner set up in their sister store, frankie, in the same shopping center, the sign said.
No one was hurt in the collision, according to Bloom’s post on Instagram. Permanent vehicle barriers will be installed across the building to prevent future wrecks, it said.
The News Tribune reached out to the Gig Harbor Police Department Tuesday to ask about the June 21 incident. Gig Harbor Police Chief Tray Federici wrote in an email that the driver was a 76-year-old woman. She was trying to park in an ADA-accessible parking stall when her vehicle accelerated forward and hit the building, he wrote.
“The driver reported that her foot became entangled between the brake and accelerator pedals, resulting in unintended acceleration,” Federici wrote. “No injuries were reported. Officers investigated the incident and identified no criminal violations.”
In January, a pickup truck rammed into the business when the driver, a 65-year-old man, accidentally accelerated into the building while turning into the parking lot, The News Tribune reported. He also told police that his feet got tangled between the accelerator and brake pedals.
Co-owners Maria Miskoski and Mark Crowley opened Bloom Boutique in 2004, South Sound Magazine reported.
