A first-of-its-kind business opens in Lacey, plus pickleball and a salon are in the works
A new business opens Friday afternoon in Lacey that will cater to the neuro-diverse.
It’s called the Sensory Tool House, and it will sell retail items as well as offer a community space and a sensory room for those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders, tourette’s syndrome, or someone dealing with anxiety or post-traumatic stress. The store also might be good for the excessive pen-clicker or foot-tapper who just needs to find the right fidget toy.
Owner Katie McMurray and her staff of five — employees who might be neuro-diverse themselves or have experience as a caregiver of someone who is — are ready to help.
Above all, McMurray hopes it’s a welcoming place.
“You get to be who you are and you don’t have to apologize,” she said. “Nobody should have to apologize for who they are.”
McMurray’s journey to business owner is an interesting one. She’s a former flight attendant and school teacher, who went on to earn a master’s degree in guidance and counseling with an emphasis in sensory processing. She later became a vocational counselor and about a year ago began exploring the business that opens at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
In the run up to her opening, she sought feedback from other organizations, such as South Sound Parent to Parent, a longtime nonprofit that supports families raising a person with a disability.
McMurray also has spent the last 14 years raising a child with autism. One of the challenges she learned as a parent is that the things her child needed were largely sold online. But online she was unable to touch and feel those things before she bought them.
That’s one of the central tenets of her new business: You can try it before you buy it, she said.
The 1,700-square-foot business is part store, part community space and part sensory room. The community space is available for rent, but free to nonprofits. One of the first events in the space is ornament decorating to help people with their fine motor skills. The sensory room, too, offers fine motor skills development and color awareness activities.
McMurray said the business is working with the state to help those who might not otherwise be able to afford certain items at the store, and for those who don’t qualify for state support, the business has created what it calls the Buddy Fund. More about the fund can be found on the Sensory Tool House website at https://www.sensorytoolhouse.com/.
The store is open 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. The business can be found at Lacey Downs Plaza, a shopping center perhaps best known as the location of the Lacey post office. The address is 5831 Lacey Blvd. SE, Suite J.
In the works
Representatives of Jubilee, the 55-and-older community in northeast Lacey, are exploring adding an indoor pickleball court and fitness center and remodeling an existing meeting room, according to city of Lacey information.
A developer is also exploring the construction of a two-story building in the 6100 block of Pacific Avenue Southeast, according to Lacey information. The first floor is proposed to have two commercial spaces, including one for a 2,000-square-foot salon. The top floor is proposed for storage and offices.
If you know of a retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or other business that is opening, closing, expanding, remodeling, or changing its focus, send an email to reporter Rolf Boone at rboone@theolympian.com.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
