Downtown Olympia salon’s window shattered for the second time this year

When Randy Morlan came into work Wednesday, he found a sheet of plywood occupying the space where a glass window used to be.

Morlan is the owner of Euphorium, a salon that sits on the corner of Washington Street and Fourth Avenue in downtown Olympia. He received a call about an incident at his salon early Wednesday, but didn't pick it up. A few hours later, he arrived at work to find one of the front windows of his shop had been shattered.

"It's been an interesting morning to come to this," Morlan said.

About 3 a.m. Wednesday, Olympia fire crews responded to a report of a business that had been damaged in the 200 block of Fourth Avenue East.

"When there's trouble like this, we will respond and board up a window," Fire Chief Greg Wright said.

Olympia police Lt. Sam Costello said they have no suspects at this time.

"Damage is likely going to be expensive due to the size of the glass," he said.

In the nearly 19 years Morlan has been running his salon, Morlan said a window has been broken by an anonymous passerby at least once a year. He said this is the second window he's had to replace this year.

Typically, Morlan said, the contents of his shop remain untouched, but on this instance, a small amount of cash was missing from the register.

"There wasn't a lot of cash in there, but it's gone," Morlan said.

While he doesn't believe his shop is being targeted, Morlan thinks its downtown location adds to its vulnerability.

"I think its proximity, to be honest with you," he said.

Based on what it cost to replace the last window, Morlan estimates the repair this time will exceed $1,200, because it's a center window.

"It's going to be expensive," he said. "Even if I get things rolling today, it won't be fixed until next week."

Despite the plywood slab, Euphorium continued its Wednesday operations as usual. Morlan rushed from one task to the next while a customer swept the floor and another shook out a couch cushion to remove debris from the early-morning vandalism.

But even with help from what he called "great customers," Morlan said dealing with the aftermath of such incidents hasn't gotten any easier.

"It's really hard," he said. "When I moved here in December '99, I was so proud to be on this corner. I really wish I felt that way now."

This story was originally published July 11, 2018 at 12:34 PM.