PHOTOS: No injuries reported after car crashes into Zak’s Home Hardware on Central Ave.

No injuries were reported after a car crashed into a Saskatoon hardware store early on Friday morning, but the occupants of the vehicle were not found by firefighters responding to the scene.

According to the Saskatoon Fire Department, firefighters were called to Zak’s Home Hardware on Central Avenue to assist police shortly before 2 a.m.

Read more:

“Significant damage occurred to the front of the building,” the fire department said in a statement.

“There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters.”

Despite significant damage to the store, marketing manager Majken Cooke says the store will be open as usual at 8 a.m. (Majken Cooke/Submitted)

Firefighters checked the structure to ensure it was not in imminent danger of collapse, then ensured the car was turned off and searched the vehicle.

“No occupants were found,” the fire department noted.

Majken Cooke, marketing manager for Zak’s Home Hardware, said the crash happened at around 1:30 a.m., and when staff members alerted by the alarm arrived at the store, they found the car sitting inside the store’s smashed front entrance.

“I think that they do believe they were impaired, due to the fact that they fled, but also there was zero braking involved,” Cooke said. “They just drove directly into the store.”

Majken Cooke said the driver did not appear to brake before crashing into the store, raising questions about possible impairment. (Majken Cooke/Submitted)

Cooke said staff members have spent the morning cleaning up glass and other damage caused by the crash, but she said it’s not going to interfere with their normal business on Friday.

She said the car has been removed, the till was undamaged, and the cleanup is progressing well.

The car has been removed from the front of the store. Majken Cooke said they suspect the driver was impaired, as they apparently did not brake before the crash and fled the scene afterwards. (Majken Cooke/Submitted)

“We will be open for our normal opening hour at 8 a.m. today,” Cooke said.

“They’ve been busy, just clearing shrapnel. Obviously there will be some infrastructure repairs that will need to be done, but it won’t interfere with day-to-day operations.”

Cooke said the store will be covered by insurance, but with staff already working hard to prepare for the opening of a new location, she said the crash is a major annoyance.

Staff members use tools from the store to clean up the damage following the crash on Friday morning. (Majken Cooke/Submitted)

“Our team is already spread very thin, and then to be driving into the city in the wee hours to something as shocking as this… there’s a lot on our team’s plate at the moment,” Cooke said.

Cooke noted that the crash was captured on the store’s surveillance cameras, and the footage has been turned over to police.