Holmes Beach businesses in recovery after car crashes

Two storefronts are boarded up across the street from one another along a busy stretch of Marina Drive.

By Elizabeth King
| 5:00 a.m. April 27, 2024
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Raders Reef was the scene of a crash with fire on April 20, while Gypsea Tides (in the background) had a Jeep drive through it on April 18, police said.

Manatee-Sarasota

Business owners on a small street in the Manatee County city of Holmes Beach are recovering and moving forward, in different ways, after a pair of separate and unrelated car-storefront crashes.

In one incident, on April 18 on Marina Drive, the driver of Jeep plowed into two stores. Two days later, across 56th Street on Marina Drive, a vehicle crashed through the window of another business and caught fire.

Gypsea Tides, where the Jeep — with a tire cover that says "Sassy but Classy" next to a kissing-lips image — drove through the side window on April 18, reopened its doors April 26. The store owner was among three people injured in the crash. All were treated and released from the hospital within days, Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer says. The driver of the Jeep was cited for careless driving.