A customer was shot and a store clerk pistol-whipped during a robbery Friday night at a north Minneapolis clothing store, police said.

Police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said that the customer was shot in the chest and taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale with what was described initially as a life-threatening injury. About 10 p.m., he said, the customer was undergoing surgery, and was reported to be in stable condition.

The robbery occurred about 8 p.m. at Avenue Wear, 1115 Lowry Av. N., which sells "urban sportswear and accessories," according to a sales sign. The business is part of a small commercial area near Lowry and Emerson avenues N., and has as some of its neighbors a barber shop, a convenience store and an Asian restaurant.

Palmer said that the suspect, an adult male, fled on foot after shooting the customer and pistol-whipping the clerk, who also may have been the store's owner.

About 9 p.m., after police cleared the scene, the clerk was in the store, explaining to friends what had happened. He had a small cut in the corner of an eye, which was swollen.

A suspect description was not available Friday night.

ANTHONY LONETREE