FRIDLEY, Minnesota — A favorite in Fridley for vintage and antique lovers is indefinitely closed after a water main break early Friday morning.
"To see it like this with nothing in it, with mud everywhere, is like absolutely devastating," said Joshua Larson, co-owner of Wild Things Antiques, Wild Vintage Collective, and The Clapping Monkey House of Coffee.
The three businesses are spread throughout an 18,000-square-foot space in Fridley, off of University Avenue.
"There was active water coming out of the middle of the foundation, going everywhere, and it was bringing all of this mud up with it," Larson said.
Police and firefighters responded to a water flow alarm just before 4 a.m. on Friday. Larson arrived to find water pouring out of the building. It appears the water main broke inside the Wild Things Holiday room in the middle of the floor but Larson said there are still a lot of unknowns about what happened and the condition of the building.
Sunday, volunteers were still hauling out pieces and packing up what could be saved to be stored in a different part of the building. Larson said not a single square inch of the space was left spared from water and mud.
"It's been amazing out of the disaster, the love that we've felt," Co-Owner David Wenzel said.
It could be several months before the couple even starts to consider moving back into the space, which they lease. Wild Vintage Collective is home to more than 40 antique and vintage dealers.
"If this is a space we're going to stay in, what does that look like? What's the timeline? And in the interim, how can we help these small businesses stay alive? Because a lot of them are depending on income from this space in order to maintain their family and houses, and their personal finances," Larson said.
Larson and Wenzel are considering shifting to pop-up markets with their vendors while they figure out the next steps.
More than a hundred volunteers spent their holiday weekend helping pack up the mall.
"We found a community that has fully embraced us from the beginning," Wenzel said.
The Clapping Monkey House of Coffee has not been open for even six months and the rest of the business was set to celebrate one year in this space at the end of July.
People from all over the country have pitched in — donating food, boxes, and money.
Larson said, "More than just a vintage and antique mall, coffee shop, it's like a huge family, an incredible community, a queer safe space. That has shown in all of the different people that have come up to support us to get everything back to where it needs to be."
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Wild Things, Wild Vintage Collective and Clapping Monkey rebuild or relocate.
You can receive updates by following their social media channels. On Instagram: @wildthingsantiques, @wildvintagecollective, and @theclappingmonkeymn.
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