After first opening in the Yard Birds shopping mall in 2014, The Squirrel Hut Boutique owner Erica Lewis had established her business and was seeing steady sales offering women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, shoes and accessories.
Now, her business has successfully survived a surprise eviction and the loss of more than $100,000 of inventory. The business reopened over the summer.
The Squirrel Hut Boutique is now located at 1570 N. National Ave., suite 108, in Chehalis. It is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Friday and from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
In her time at Yard Birds, Lewis established Squirrel Hut as a popular boutique for formal dresses and designer jeans.
Since Lewis was coming up on eight years of business at the mall, she decided to ignore rumors that began circulating concerning Yard Birds’ closure in 2022.
Those rumors started after the City of Chehalis filed a lawsuit against Yard Birds’ owners, Peat LLC and R&D Research & Development LLC, in early 2022 after the mall fell out of compliance with a number of city codes.
Then, power to the building was cut at the end of August 2022.
“Two months into the power being out, we were told it had to do with the ownership change,” Lewis said. “But even the people who were working for the guy who was buying it, they didn’t know what was going on.”
Despite the power being cut, Lewis had exterior access to her store in Yard Birds and set up lights inside so she could arrange appointments for customers to come shop, but she eventually had to stop as winter started.
Following that, eviction notices for Lewis and her fellow business owners renting space at Yard Birds came at the beginning of November 2022, and the city subsequently condemned the building.
“Those were illegal eviction notices by the way … We had no warning. We didn’t know that was coming,” Lewis said.
Lewis added she understood the City of Chehalis had no choice but to condemn the building for how long it had been without power, posing safety risks to those who entered.
According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, a failed Washington State Labor & Industries inspection and unpaid electric bills exceeding $100,000 led to the Lewis County Public Utility District cutting the power to the mall last year.
Not knowing the eviction was coming left Lewis in a bind, as aside from the stock already on her boutique’s shelves and racks, she lost inventory in storage at Yard Birds as a lot was destroyed by rats, she said.
“I have $100,000 worth of inventory still in that building right now,” Lewis said.
Though she does sell some used clothing, Lewis also offers a lot of new items as she purchases overstocked and unsold clothing items and accessories in bulk.
“I buy wholesale from manufacturers, and I hand-pick things,” Lewis added.
Lewis said she wasn’t the only one who lost inventory that still remains within Yard Birds. Given the lack of warning of the eviction, many were left scrambling to find storage and were unable to do so.
“A lot of the people who had shops there were elderly. They really didn’t have the means to get it out, especially in that short of a time period in December in the freezing cold,” said Lewis. “A lot of people just abandoned their stuff. They didn’t want to, but where were they going to put it? There was no notice.”
Additionally, in the chaos and confusion immediately following the eviction notices, thieves took advantage of the situation and stole from some business owners, including Lewis.
At Yard Birds, her boutique occupied a 3,500 square-foot space and Lewis rented an additional 1,000 square-foot storage space. Though the space Squirrel Hut occupies now on North National Avenue isn’t as big, Lewis is making do and has now set up her boutique once more in Chehalis.
With the closure of Bartel’s Clothing and Shoes earlier this year, Lewis has now stepped in to offer tuxedo rentals at Squirrel Hut as well. Lewis added formal dresses and designer jeans are still some of her biggest sellers. She offers other items at the boutique as well, from furniture to jewelry.
“We have everything. We’re the best store there is,” Lewis said.
For more information on The Squirrel Hut Boutique, call Lewis at 360-880-3799 or find the business on Facebook here https://bit.ly/3sqdfRR.
