Vintage goods were smashed and items were strewn across the floor after a car ploughed into the side of an antique store in Wairarapa.
Dramatic photos from the scene at Owl's Attic in Carterton show the wreckage as the owners are left with a huge mess to clean up.
Paul Bainbridge told Newshub he had only opened the store 15 months ago and was hoping for a bumper summer period.
But unfortunately, just after 7am on Thursday, a car driven by two teenagers crashed through the side of his store, destroying the building's wall, he said.
"We just heard an horrendous noise from outside," Bainbridge said.
Paul and his partner Kirsten were at the back of the store when it happened.
"We went galloping around to see what had happened, and saw two young men, luckily the airbags were deployed, and they were okay, but they were pretty shaken," Kirsten Ryan said.
The two teens then quickly got out of the car, she said.
"Apparently he'd fallen asleep behind the wheel, they'd just come back from hunting and nodded off," Ryan said.
After checking the youngsters were okay, the owners realised how badly damaged their store was.
The extensive damage is expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
But the owners say what can't be replaced are the antique items that have been destroyed.
"It's very devastating, we put a lot of time and effort into this place, we've only been going for over a year, and a lot of the furniture we do up ourselves, most of it's been done by us," Bainbridge said.
"We're just sad that this is the high time of the year, we were really busy, and then this happens," Ryan said.
But the pair said they're not angry at the teens.
"We feel sorry for them, there was no malicious, no drugs or alcohol involved, we've been in contact with them, and he says he's really sorry it's happened," Ryan said.
The owners are hopeful they'll be open again soon, but they admit there's a big cleanup ahead.
The store will remain closed until further notice.
