An antique shop owner in Long Beach is pleading with local leaders to increase safety measures in the area after several vehicles crashed into and near her store over recent years.
Emily Yep, the owner of Magnolia and Willow has been vocal in her efforts to increase safety measures near the bustling intersection her store is named after. She said for years, she’s been reaching out to elected leaders after her store had too many close calls and actual impacts.
“I’ve been pleading since 2017 for bollards, you know, safety partitions, put in so they can’t drive up into our store and they just don’t think it’s necessary,” Yep told NBC4.
She said in 2017, she received a response from the city that it would doo a study on the intersection. Just this summer alone, at least two crashes have been reported on Magnolia Avenue and Willow Street.
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Surveillance footage showed a car crashed into the front of the store over the weekend. Thankfully, the crash occurred when the shop was closed. On July 4, another car crashed into the other side of the building.
Crashes and near-crashes happen so frequently in the area, store employees say they’ve gotten used to them. According to Yep, who has owned her shop since 2010, the crashes and close calls happen once or twice a month.
“At this point, every time we hear a tire screech, we just kind of brace,” said Gus Esparza, a clerk at Magnolia and Willow.
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Yep is hoping Long Beach leaders will install some sort of barrier in front of her shop to keep her employees and customers safe.
“I think the bollards would be an immediate answer,” she said. “They could even put the cement K-Rails temporarily just until they’re able to do something permanently.”
She added that if the city doesn’t implement safety barriers near her shop, she may crowdsource funding for rails and build them herself.
