uncnews.unc.edu

Flooding from broken pipes at the Ackland Museum Store temporarily has closed the business at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets. The flooding occurred an hour before closing on Monday evening, and store and museum employees scurried to remove the pottery, jewelry, toys, books and other items to safety from the distinctive white display cabinets. None of the store’s merchandise was damaged in the flooding.

The carpeting, fixtures and lowest sections of the walls did not fare as well and must be replaced or repaired. Today behind the black-papered storefront windows, a cleanup crew continued to rip out carpeting and scrape glue from the floor.

“It may look like the store has gone out of business, but we haven’t,” said Emily Kass, director of the Ackland Art Museum. “We want to reassure our customers and our downtown business neighbors that we will be up and running again as soon as possible.”

The Ackland Art Museum, a separate building farther south on Columbia Street, is still open and operating on its regular schedule.

All proceeds from the museum store support the Ackland’s exhibition and education programs.
The store also serves as a dedicated gallery space for rotating exhibitions of original artworks in a variety of media by local and regional artists and artisans.

The repairs at the museum store will probably take at least two weeks. For news on the progress of the repairs, visit ackland.org/shop. Updates will also be posted on the museum store’s Facebook and Tumblr pages.

Ackland Art Museum contact: Emily Bowles, (919) 843-3675, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it