Collapsed Costco Rack Buries Aisle; No One Hurt -- Spilled Merchandise Stacks 4 Feet Deep

-- LYNNWOOD

Building officials are investigating Costco's storage procedures after an apparently overloaded rack collapsed at the Lynnwood store yesterday, burying an aisle 4 feet deep in flour, ketchup and cookies, but causing no injuries.

A section of the steel-fabricated, 30-foot-long rack buckled without warning just before noon yesterday at the store at 19105 Highway 99. A man entering the aisle saw stacks of material start to sway and pulled his wife aside just before the collapse, said Lynnwood Assistant Fire Chief Bill Pessemier. An unattended shopping cart in the aisle was crushed.

"You could see where it had collapsed in the middle of the rack," Pessemier said. "It was a mess. There were flour and ketchup spilled everywhere, canned goods. . . . It could have been very serious."

Kyle Gillis of Brier was in the frozen-foods section with her two young daughters when they heard a loud crash.

"People were screaming and running out of the way. It was just miraculous nobody was hurt," she said.

Lynnwood building inspector Howard Gorst said he had determined neither the maximum allowable load for the racks nor the amount of material they contained yesterday. He planned to consult further with state safety inspectors. Pessemier said other racks in the store appeared to be similarly loaded and the store might have to reload or remove them after further inspection.

Gorst and Pessemier praised Costco managers for reacting quickly to check other racks for damage. A four-aisle section of the store was closed for cleanup and inspection yesterday afternoon. Employees ferried economy-size salad dressing, vinegar and noodles to customers waving shopping lists at the barrier.