Vehicle crashes through front of Osborne Village shop

A family who just recently recovered from a fire in one of their businesses in Osborne Village has taken another hit. Literally.

A vehicle drove into the front of Rooster just before 6:30 a.m. Friday, shattering the window and part of the facade of the Winnipeg business. The vehicle also hit a hydro pole before speeding away from the scene.

"It's a setback whenever these things happen. Your heart breaks a little bit," said Arden Coy, who co-owns the business with her mom.

Along with Rooster, they own the neighbouring Silver Lotus jewelry store and Small Mercies, a gift boutique and café, a couple of doors down.

The latter was closed for a year after a fire in June 2023.

This time, though, the business won't be closed for long, said Coy.

"We'll just probably board up the front and continue business as usual. All the glass is still kind of getting cleaned up and we're still just figuring things out, but we will definitely be open still. Like, hopefully by the end of the day today, we'll be reopened," she said, and the other two shops are open.

Coy and her family are still trying to figure out what happened and going through security video. She doesn't believe it was a targeted attack on the business, but rather an accident.

"Hopefully we'll have footage and be able to catch who did this," she said.

She imagines the vehicle is badly damaged — there are car pieces inside the shop.

"I just also hope that they weren't hurt or something wasn't wrong after they left."

Rooster sells high-end shoes as well as clothing, jewelry, bags and other gifts, but as far as Coy knows, nothing was stolen.

Someone from an office above the store came down shortly after the crash and kept an eye on things until Coy arrived.

"We didn't know this happened until I got here at 7 [a.m.]," she said.

There were some items in the window display, but Coy hasn't tallied the damage yet.

"Honestly, the damage to the building is probably more so than the product. I mean, it's just more disheartening," she said.