Olympia businesses reopening, sometimes behind boards
On June 5, Mayor Cheryl Selby advised downtown business owners to board up their stores in response to a perceived threat of property destruction by a group of “people from outside Olympia.”
“I hate seeing boards up in our downtown, but I have to err on the side of caution,” Selby said at a press conference to address ongoing protests prompted by the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Many businesses took heed. Equal Latin Restaurant and Bar, which sits kitty-corner from City Hall, was one business that did not.
After reopening to in-person dining under Phase 2 regulations, it has been open every day and night since, supplying carnitas and calm to downtown crowds. Equal Latin has extended their hours, sometimes until 10 p.m., so protesters can come in to order food or use the bathrooms.
If anything, the demonstrations have been good for business, said bar manager Cyndi Wagoner.
“We actually just recently added a sidewalk café, we just got back from the liquor and cannabis board to go ahead and start serving alcohol, so we’re now able to fully serve food and alcoholic beverages outside,” Wagoner told The Olympian.
Along with neighboring Well 80 Brewhouse, Wagoner has distributed water to the nighttime crowds. Paul Pearson, head brewer at Well 80, said he felt unsettled by seeing other businesses boarded up.
“I think we just need to let people know that we care,” Pearson told The Olympian the night of Selby’s press conference, while a group of marchers stopped outside to grab water bottles.
Wagoner acknowledged that Equal Latin’s storefront has “a ton” of glass windows; one of them displays text that says “POC owned.” Wagoner’s aunt, Maria Isabel Guzman, started the restaurant last year, and many of her family members work on the staff.
But any concern over vandalism is outweighed by pride that the restaurant could be a community resource.
“Some of them were regulars before the closure happened,” Wagoner said. “We support our community. The protesters, they’re all part of our community.”
A few police officers have stopped in too; they ordered their food to-go, Wagoner noted.
Boarding up
Since the press conference, other Phase 2 reopenings coincided with building owners boarding up windows, leaving the confusing sight of shuttered storefronts with neon lights and signage inviting customers inside.
Siriporn Jala is the owner of the fledgling Nou Thai Restaurant, which she’d hoped to launch in January but was delayed due to the pandemic. When she finally opened her doors on Water Street two weeks ago, she was greeted by the sight of other businesses shuttering.
Jala, who is from Thailand and moved here in 2012, did the same. She’s been taking her cues from other businesses and her neighbors, who helped her paint the boards bright blue. But she’s not sure it was the right move. After a week of slow business and no walk-ins, Jala thinks it’s time to take them down.
“Because of the boards, it really looks like I’m closed, it’s really hurting my business,” Jala said. “[Customers] don’t want to look in, and they don’t see anything inside. I want to open up.”
Jala says she plans to take the boards down next week. On Thursday, she put chairs and tables outside, and has already seen people using them.
“It looks more inviting and lively,” Jala noted.
Next door, New Traditions Café and Fair Trade reopened to outdoor seating on Saturday.
Co-owner Stacey Muguet had planned to open on June 5, but postponed as a gesture of support to the protest planned for that day. Instead, her family and others made food and coffee for the protesters and painted murals on the window boards.
“People were out protesting, we were painting, it actually felt like a beautiful moment of humanity,” Muguet said.
Passersby have found the murals inspiring and she is not in a hurry to take them down.
New Traditions has long been a “liberal political community center,” Muguet said, where progressive activist groups like Copwatch and Economics for Everyone meet and organize (though in-person meetings are on pause for now).
Muguet says she’s taking her time with reopening.
“I’m not worried about losing money,” Muguet said. “I’d prefer to let the movement get the attention it needs.”
Window shopping
In many cases, putting up plywood is the choice of a building owner rather than an individual business.
Capital City Guitars recently re-opened a small window for instrument repairs at its Fourth Avenue storefront, which is now surrounded by plywood.
Store owner Robert Johnson said he’s eager to fully re-open but is taking time to reconfigure the store’s tight layout to allow safer distancing. Last week, the building’s owner asked him to board up the windows after the door was kicked in and a window broken. While the plywood has added another layer of complication to the reopening process, Johnson said he is glad to see the protests and supports the messages painted on his storefront.
“As soon as we boarded up the windows, we knew we were going to supply a canvass and give people a medium to speak and that’s fine,” Johnson said. “We support BLM and we support the protests. The first wave of stuff we got they did a really good job. We got flowers, we got great messages, we got everybody’s name out there.”
He also hired an Olympia High School student to paint a music-themed mural.
“We’ll repaint when it’s over and hopefully there will be a lot of change and a lot of better because of it,” Johnson added.
One block south, Buck’s Spice Shop has reemerged behind a block-long wall of plywood where local artists have collaborated on an elaborate mural project. The mural features stencil paintings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician shot by Louisville, Kentucky, police, as well as John T. Williams, a Native American man who was killed by police in Seattle in 2010.
Scotty Sounds took over managing the spice store after founder and longtime owner Anne Buck died last year. He says he’s had success with online bulk orders from Etsy and Google, as well as supplying re-opening restaurants with niche ingredients like pomegranate molasses and heirloom beans.
“Because of COVID, it’s been OK because everything’s been mail order and curbside pickup,” Sounds said. “I’ve been putting this sandwich board sign up that says pickup with an arrow, but it doesn’t always work.”
This story was originally published June 14, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
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