Woman Drives Vehicle Through Window Of Solar Nails Salon; Substantial Property Damage Reported

WAUKESHA — A vehicle collision brought unexpected excitement to the Solar Nails Salon on Northside Drive Friday morning when a 73-year-old driver accidentally drove through the storefront's front window at approximately 10:55 a.m.

The vehicle, a 2019 Honda Civic, struck the salon's large display window and a section of interior signage, coming to rest roughly four feet inside the retail floor, according to Waukesha Police. Salon owner Linh Nguyen, 56, estimated the damage at roughly $8,400, covering the window, a shattered pedicure-station mirror, and a rack of nail polish that did not survive the impact.

No injuries were reported among salon staff or the two clients seated at drying stations at the time. Waukesha Police responded within eight minutes and determined the incident to be driver error. Preliminary reports indicate the driver may have confused the accelerator with the brake pedal while reversing in the adjacent parking lot, a maneuver an officer at the scene described as "not a forward-motion crash, which is its own category we have to note separately."

The Scene

Nguyen said she was at the front desk checking in a 1 p.m. appointment when she heard what she described as "a sound I still can't fully explain," followed by the Civic's front bumper coming to rest against a pedicure chair. She said the vehicle's engine continued running for several seconds after impact before the driver, who Nguyen said appeared "completely stunned," shut it off herself.

"I've had a car try to park in the lot before, wrong way, whatever. I have never had a car actually join us inside."

— Linh Nguyen, owner, Solar Nails Salon

The driver, whose name was not released by police, was treated at the scene by Waukesha Fire Department paramedics for what officials described as minor scrapes and declined further transport. She was not cited at the scene pending completion of the police report, though officers said a citation for inattentive driving is likely.

Cleanup And Closure

Nguyen closed the salon for the remainder of Friday and through the weekend to allow for board-up work and a structural inspection of the window frame, which a contractor told her would need full replacement rather than repair. She said all nine of Friday's remaining appointments were rescheduled by phone within two hours, and that six of the nine clients asked, unprompted, whether the chair the car had stopped near was "the one," meaning available to book once repairs were done.

A temporary sheet of plywood was fitted to the window frame by early afternoon, painted by an employee with a hand-lettered sign reading "STILL OPEN (MONDAY) - WALK-INS WELCOME." Nguyen said the salon planned to reopen Monday with a temporary storefront covering in place while the permanent glass is ordered, a process she was told could take up to three weeks.

Neighborhood Reaction

A customer at the neighboring Culver's, who said she saw the aftermath while parking for lunch, described the scene as "genuinely upsetting for about ten seconds and then kind of impressive," noting that the Civic's front license plate had come to rest, undamaged, directly beneath a display shelf of nail polish bottles, none of which had fallen.

Waukesha Police said the department responds to an average of two to three storefront-collision calls per year involving the Northside Drive retail strip, most attributed to drivers backing out of angled parking spaces. The department said it has no plans to recommend changes to the lot's parking configuration, calling Friday's incident "consistent with typical patterns" for the location.

Nguyen said she intends to file an insurance claim covering both the structural damage and the lost inventory, and that she has not decided whether to request compensation from the driver directly. "She was very sorry," Nguyen said. "I believe her. I would still like a new window."