VIDEO: Ohio bridal shop closed over Ebola concern

Published 11:49 am Friday, October 17, 2014

AKRON, Ohio (MCT) — A North Akron bridal shop got the kind of attention Thursday that no business wants.

Store owner Anna Younkers decided not to open her Coming Attractions Bridal and Formal on Thursday morning and will keep it closed through Tuesday after learning that Amber Vinson had visited the Tallmadge Avenue shop during a weekend trip to Northeast Ohio.


Vinson is a Dallas nurse diagnosed with Ebola after a weekend visit to the Akron area.

People who visited the store at 1220 E. Tallmadge Ave. from noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday should contact the health department at 330-926-3939, public health officials said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

This way, the health department can “assess when they were there, how long, what they were doing and then determine what guidance we need to give them,” said Dr. Marguerite Erme, medical director of Summit County Public Health.

The same applies to Coming Attractions employees who were at the store Saturday, Erme said.

Younkers was at her 20-year-old business Thursday when the media descended. Sources had tipped off reporters that Vinson visited the bridal shop as part of her wedding planning.

Younkers told reporters that she decided to close as a precautionary measure. A store employee saw Vinson’s picture on news reports Wednesday afternoon and realized she had been in the store Saturday. Vinson was at the store in June to pick out her wedding dress. On Saturday, she was at the store with several friends so they could get fitted for bridesmaids’ dresses.

The store owner said Thursday that she also didn’t open her shop because employees were reluctant to come to work. Also, Younkers said she didn’t want to add to any panic.

“Everybody wants to go down the road where we should all panic,” Younkers said. “I don’t think we should.”

If Vinson had been sneezing, coughing or showing any signs of illness Saturday, Younkers said she would be “more concerned.”

“We just don’t need to cause a panic,” she said.

Younkers said her husband, Don, and employees spoke to public health officials Wednesday and were told “not to worry.”

On Thursday afternoon, health officials said at the news conference that Vinson may have had symptoms as early as Friday — the day she arrived in Akron and the day before she visited the bridal shop.

Previously, local health officials said that Vinson was not symptomatic while in Ohio. She returned to Dallas on Monday, and was diagnosed Tuesday.

On Thursday afternoon, a fundraising effort for the bridal shop was posted on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding site that invites contributors to support a project via online donations.