Painted Tree boutiques closed suddenly across the country, and hundreds of small business owners in the Houston area were left scrambling Wednesday to clear out inventory and find somewhere else to sell. At the Westchase location in southwest Houston, vendors packed up booths after learning they had to be out by April 24.
For many of them, the shutdown landed without warning. Mike Davis said, “We got an email yesterday that they're closed. No more. Come get your stuff out,” while his wife, Kay Davis, said, “We work full time, so vacations are precious - and this is a real gut check.” Another vendor, Lupe Bonola, said, “It was frustrating the way it happened,” adding that opening a whole store would mean “rent, and a whole lot of things you didn't have to worry about here.”
Painted Tree began operating in 2015 as a retail concept that let independent vendors rent space inside its boutiques to sell gifts, clothing, art and home décor. The company grew to more than 60 locations nationwide, including six in the Houston area, before citing rising costs, shifting market conditions and changes in consumer shopping behavior as reasons for the closures.
That model is what made the shutdown so disruptive. Vendors said they had depended on the marketplace to run their businesses with lower overhead, and now many are being forced to find new places to operate on short notice. One anonymous vendor called the program “a great” one but said it was “mismanaged,” while another said the way it unfolded “was just out of nowhere.”
Bonola said the rush of packing up left the deeper impact only starting to register. “I already cried,” she said. “You don't really feel it in the moment because everything's going fast, but once you sit down, it makes me kind of emotional.” Davis tried to rally his fellow sellers with a final word of encouragement: “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stay strong, you'll get through it.”
Painted Tree instructed vendors to remove their inventory by April 24, and the company did not respond to requests for additional comment Wednesday. For the Houston vendors now hauling out racks, art and home goods, the immediate task is simple: get out, and figure out what comes next.