Struggling Bend wedding business must find new location — fast, after eviction

'Do I walk away from all of this? No!'

(Update: Adding video, details)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A longtime Bend business has lost its lease amid the woes many businesses have faced due to COVID-19. Now, the family behind it is scrambling to find a new home.

Yvonne Richer, the original owner of Bend Wedding & Formal, said Wednesday, "Oh, I have nine children, and my children were raised in the flower and the bridal shop."

For 50 years, Bend Wedding and Formal has been a family business.

"Family is family,” Richer told NewsChannel 21. “We all need to stick together and work together, and no matter what goes wrong, you need to talk it out. Just talk it out and make it work."

That also means moving out of the business's most recent home on Second Street is a family affair.

Kathleen Evans, the current owner and Richer’s daughter, said, "We are closing down the shop right now, temporarily. We've been evicted from our lease."

Evans has run the business for the last 15 years, after her mother passed it on to her.

"Due to the COVID, I am three months behind on my lease,” she said. “Wo (my landlord) has every right to put that check mark and go ahead and evict me."

Evans was given just two days to move everything out of the space.

A representative from Makers District Properties, the owner of the building, initially declined to comment, but later told NewsChannel 21 Evans was unresponsive to requests to discuss rent obligations months before the eviction notice.

Business has been tough the last few months, with events getting canceled left and right.

"Without brides, how do we make a sale?” Richer asked. “You don't make any money, you can't pay the rent. There's a decision: Do I walk away from all of this? No!"

Evans, with help from her family and close friends, cleared out the store and placed all their inventory in security boxes.

"So these are only bags of shoes that we have right here,” Evans said, while showing one of the boxes. “Our dresses, obviously with a lot more are, but our shoes waiting and ready to be reorganized."

For now, the business will go on in a limited capacity from Evans' home.

"If they have dresses that need to be picked up," she said. "We're still doing alterations.”

But there's hope it won't be for long.

"If anyone out there has a space that we can reopen this or re-set it up and help our brides and our grooms," Richer said.

Any current customers are asked to reach out to Evans personally through her email, Kathleen@bendbridal.com.