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Elderly woman drives through storefront

Employees of the Didsbury Dollar Store are beginning to relax after watching in disbelief as a silver Toyota Corolla drove through the shop's front doors stopping next to the register.
Didsbury fire fighters clean up debris and remove a car from the inside of Dollar Store & More. An 81-year old woman from Olds drove through the storefront Friday morning.
Didsbury fire fighters clean up debris and remove a car from the inside of Dollar Store & More. An 81-year old woman from Olds drove through the storefront Friday morning.

Employees of the Didsbury Dollar Store are beginning to relax after watching in disbelief as a silver Toyota Corolla drove through the shop's front doors stopping next to the register.

“Nothing, just shock,” said employee Tara Hollinger of what went through her mind when she saw the vehicle rolling towards her. “I didn't know if someone was in the car or if it was just coming in by itself,” she said, explaining that she was walking towards the front of the building when it happened.

“It sounded like a train was about to come right through the back of the store,” said another worker, Wanda Davies, who was at the back of the shop at the time. “That's why we started moving towards the front.”

The two were “in shock” from the event and rushed to the driver of the car, an elderly woman, to assist.

“No one was in the store at the time and no one was hurt, and that's the most important thing,” said Davies. “The community was so fast on responding. Before I knew it the police were here, then the fire department and everyone was rushing over to see if they could help,” she said.

Laura Boyd, who was in her van at the four-way between 19th Avenue and 20th Street, near the shop, saw the car go through the front.

“I saw her pulling into the parking spot but instead of stopping she just kept going. That's when I called 911.”

Police said the woman, 81, is from Olds and failed to hit the brakes as she was turning into the parking stall. No one was hurt, and the woman didn't suffer any injuries. The woman was driving by herself and faces charges for failing to angle park properly, that would be dealt with by way of a ticket.

Employees of the store said there were no customers inside at the time of the accident.

Storeowner Mark Missikewitz was out of town at the time of the accident, watching his daughter compete in junior women's provincial championship in Coaldale, Alberta. He said a temporary frame was put in place by the end of day Friday to secure the premises overnight, but it was business as usual Saturday when the store reopened.

“There's probably going to be a bit of a disruption over the next couple of weeks while we put in new door frames and fix things up in the front,” said Missikewitz, who said the store should continue to run during its normal hours.

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