A car accidentally accelerated out of a parking spot on North Main Street in Edina, Missouri, on Friday and slammed into the front of The Clothes Closet, a community thrift store, with the driver transported from the scene by ambulance and forcing the shop to close temporarily while contractors check the building for damage.
No one else was hurt in the crash, according to KTVO, which reported that the driver drove over the curb before the vehicle struck the storefront. Echo Menges, editor of The Edina Sentinel and president of the Missouri Sunshine Coalition, provided early details on the crash, saying the driver had accidentally accelerated from the parking spot directly in front of the building. Menges has covered Knox County news since 2010 and is described by the Missouri Press Association as an award-winning reporter and photographer recognized by the association.
Thrift Store Left in Limbo
The Clothes Closet operates out of 203–205 North Main Street in downtown Edina, where it sells donated clothing and household goods at low prices, according to My Local Thrift Store. The shop is described as a ministry supporting youth programs. A directory lists the shop's hours as Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. That schedule is now on hold entirely, as the store remains temporarily closed while contractors inspect the structure.
For local residents, the closure of a low-cost thrift shop is not a small inconvenience. Losing access to affordable clothing and household goods, even temporarily, can hit families who depend on the store the hardest.
A Historic Storefront Under Scrutiny
The storefront's condition makes any structural inspection after a vehicle impact especially significant. The vehicle impact has put the downtown storefront under scrutiny.
Contractors have not yet released findings on whether the storefront sustained structural damage beyond the immediate impact zone, and it remains unclear when the shop might reopen.
An Aging Driver Population Behind the Wheel
The driver's age puts the incident in the context of national patterns around senior drivers and pedal errors. Missouri requires drivers 70 and older to renew their licenses in person every three years, rather than every six years for younger adults, and to pass a vision test and road sign recognition test at each renewal, according to Missouri Department of Revenue rules cited by Driving-Tests.org. The state does not allow drivers in that age group to renew by mail or online.
Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates roughly 16,000 pedal error crashes happen each year, with drivers over 65 about four times more likely than middle-aged drivers to mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brake, per Hardy Wolf & Downing. Vehicles can crash into storefronts and public buildings, underscoring the importance of preventing pedal errors. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a pedal-application error occurs when a driver activates the accelerator while intending to brake. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reports documented 899 pedal-misapplication crashes in data covering 2,411 such crashes between 2004 and 2008.
That trend carries added weight in Knox County, where USAFacts provides 2024 age-demographic data. The county's total population was approximately 3,700 in 2025, according to USAFacts.
For now, Edina residents are left waiting on word from contractors about the building's condition, and on when The Clothes Closet can reopen its doors.
