The damage went far beyond the window, forcing the owner to clear out the lobby and shut down parts of her business.
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — The front window at Bareskin Beauty Bar in Middletown has been replaced, but shards of glass still line the sidewalk a visible reminder of the damage left behind after a recent snowstorm.
What can’t be seen, the owner says, may be even worse: possible internal damage and the emotional toll on her small business.
“I immediately was heartbroken. I mean, I started bawling my eyes out,” said owner Gabriella Cassone. “Not only is it so new, but I poured every ounce of my soul into getting this open and getting it as busy as it possibly can be. So seeing that, I was distraught.”
Bareskin Beauty Bar has been in business for about three years and moved into its current location just three months ago. Cassone says the relocation came with major upgrades.
“Where we’re standing was my entire lobby,” Cassone said. “We had two couches, a very large, beautiful mirror, a marble coffee table, I mean, it was gorgeous in here.”
Then came the snowstorm, and with it, a financial burden Cassone says she never expected.
“We’ve had to literally bring all of that to the dump because it was glass everywhere, snow all over,” she said. “Nothing was salvageable.”
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Cassone first realized something was wrong after checking the spa’s security cameras. Because of the camera angle, she couldn’t immediately tell what caused the damage. After reporting the incident, Middletown police collected and reviewed surveillance footage from a parking lot across the street.
That video, shown above, appears normal until a snowplow drives past the storefront. Shortly after it passes, the damage becomes visible. A side-by-side comparison of the storefront before and after the plow went by shows the extent of the destruction.
Cassone says the damage went far beyond the window, forcing her to clear out the lobby and shut down parts of her business.
“It’s really stressful because this window wouldn’t have been fixed if it didn’t come out of the business’s financials,” Cassone said. “It would’ve still been boarded up, and we would’ve been closed. As a small business, that’s detrimental. When you cancel clients, you’re risking losing them.”
Cassone says police later confirmed the snowplow involved belongs to the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Cassone says she reached out to the state immediately but has not yet received a response.
In a statement to FOX61, Connecticut DOT said: “We are in contact with Middletown Police and are reviewing any relevant video footage. We are actively investigating the incident and no further information is available at this time.”
Cassone says that although the incident involves the state, the Middletown mayor personally reached out to her. FOX 61 contacted the mayor’s office and was told there is no comment at this time.
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Priscilla Meza is a Multi-Skilled Journalist at FOX61 News. She can be reached at pmeza@fox61.com
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