Please, Brown Bear Car Wash, save our jobs at Hashtag Redmond!
by Christine Bryant, marketing director
Our beloved staff at Hashtag Redmond
Left to right: Tony, Tucker, Anthony, Mallorie, Rachel, Tyler, River, Savannah, and Caleb (not pictured: Emily, Amanda, Gordon, and Jennifer).
*CLARIFICATION: This blog post, published on January 15, 2020, states that Brown Bear Car Wash exercised their right to terminate our lease on January 31, 2020; it also states that Brown Bear Car Wash is kicking us out by January 31. To clarify, Brown Bear Car Wash has refused to extend our lease for 60 days and threatened to start eviction proceedings immediately on February 1, 2020 if we are still there. No language in the original blog post has been changed.
Since Hashtag Redmond opened its doors in April 2017 nearly three years ago, our company has had the distinct privilege of serving you, our greater Redmond community.
We’ve enjoyed getting to know the East side, learning all about your love for sun-grown ounces, 100mg drinks, top-shelf dabs, and every pre-rolled joint we can find for you.
We’ve fought hard to save you parking spaces in the small lot we share with a car wash, and we’ve fought even harder to install and keep up signs so you can find us, even suing the LCB, arguing for our First Amendment rights, and winning.
We survived Snowmageddon 2019 together, when one of you wrote us, “I’m so glad you’re open, because I’m down to my last gram!” And out of our tiny retail space next to a car wash, we’ve grown close to so many of you, our always-growing Hashtag family.
You may not be aware that Hashtag’s owners, Jerina Pillert and Logan Bowers, have been hard at work finding a new, bigger, and better location in Redmond for our store that will have triple the floor space, include dedicated parking, and even host a hemp-CBD shop next door. Although Jerina and Logan have succeeded in securing a new location for us, after eight months of searching hundreds of properties in the city of Redmond alone, the lease for this new location does not permit us to move in before April 2020.
Meanwhile, the property we lease today was sold to Brown Bear Car Wash, who became our new landlords on Avondale Way NE and exercised their right to terminate our lease on January 31, 2020.* And with no retail space to operate Hashtag Redmond in the months of February and March, despite our best efforts, we may be forced to close for two months, and with extreme heartbreak, to lay off our beloved 13 employees.
Despite every effort to extend our current lease at 8296 Avondale Way NE through four months of negotiations, the leadership of Brown Bear has so far rejected all of our offers and pleas to extend this lease through March 31, 2020. We’ve offered
to pay four times our monthly rent,
to adjust our hours of operation to fit their remodeling plans, and
to really do anything to make an arrangement possible.
Hashtag Redmond plans to re-open in April 2020 in central Redmond and to offer jobs to those 13 employees as soon as possible. But in that interim time, our employees will lose their jobs.
Brown Bear Car Wash is kicking us out by January 31,* even though Hashtag is moving out anyway by March 31. We will lose our jobs if Hashtag can’t stay open here for two more months, until our new store opens in April.
BUT YOU CAN HELP SAVE OUR JOBS!
Please call Brown Bear TODAY, and ask them to save our jobs!
Lance Odermat, VP and owner’s son: (206) 274-2603
Vic Odermat, founder and owner: (206) 274-2601
Brown Bear reception: (206) 789-3700
TELL THEM: “Hey, my name is _______. Hashtag Cannabis in Redmond is my favorite shop, and I love my budtender, ________. It’s unfair you’re forcing them out of their job. Please give Hashtag a two month extension, so my budtender _____ and their 12 coworkers can keep their jobs.”
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, HASHTAG FAM!
Until we’re certain that our lease with Brown Bear is extended through March 31, 2020, you can buy ANYTHING at Hashtag Redmond at a deep discount!
We have so much inventory that we’d love to share with you — order online NOW to grab your favorites first!
ALL SALES FINAL!