Anchorage woman rebounds from roof collapse with second business location

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - When Brittani Clancey first planned to open a new FashionPact store in South Anchorage, it was intended as a second location to the downtown thrift store she opened in July of 2021. She needed more space and was happy to have found it in the Kings Row Shopping Center on East Dimond Boulevard.

But on the morning of March 4, that changed when the roof of her building at 575 Ingra Street came crashing down.

“I was supposed to be there,” Clancey said. “I was going to the gym, getting ready and going to work. My 12-year-old son works with me on Saturdays regularly, he was supposed to be in with me. I had a team of nine people, I have customers on Saturday, it was the Iditarod, we were planning a busy day.”

Clancey said the most important things were spared but everything on the retail side of the building was destroyed. Engineers told her it wasn’t safe to pick through the rubble or go inside the part of the building that was still standing.

“They just told us, chances are you’ll never be able to step foot in that building again,” Clancey said. “And I was like, ‘No! Everything for my second store is inside that building.’”

The following Monday Clancey got permission to go inside and quickly grab what she could. She put out the word and a small army of people turned out to help.

“It was magical, everyone just stepped right in and helped. People walking by just came and wanted to help. It was a miracle,” Clancey said.

Clancey said less than two weeks after opening her doors at the new location at 221 East Dimond, donations have poured in. Many customers are aware that 40% of the sale price on items — most of which are marked at $5 — goes to local charities of their choosing.

Clancey called donating to nonprofits a way of giving back to a community that has always supported her, especially now when she needed it the most. She’s still waiting to hear the exact cause of what caused the roof collapse or whether any part of the building can be saved. She said a demolition team is scheduled to get rid of the wreckage that remains at the site sometime this week.

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