Driver Crashes Car Into Acme Holiday Shopper

An elderly driver crashed a vehicle into the Holiday Shopper on US-31 in Acme Thursday, with three people in the store suffering minor injuries.

Grand Traverse County Commissioner Darryl Nelson, who owns the business, posted on Facebook that the driver "stepped on the gas instead of the brake and squeezed through the concrete barriers and ran in the beer cooler." Three people in the store suffered minor injuries, according to Nelson, who expressed gratitude the situation wasn't worse. "Damage can be repaired, people cannot be replaced," he posted. "Thank God there were no serious injuries."

Nelson wrote that the store has been boarded up, all cash removed (Metro Fire helped pry open one safe, Nelson said), and the alarm and video system turned on. "My employee is traumatized but grateful," he wrote. "We will be cleaning up for a day or two and open up as soon as we can. Thank you to everyone for the offers of help, and calls. So many of my customers have been so for decades, and have become friends...I am blessed by all of you."