Customers headed to Butterfly Salon and Spa in Kent Station during the past few weeks have arrived to find the shop unexpectedly closed down and a sign on the door apologizing for the locked doors.
“Due to on going flooding within our store,” the sign reads, “it has become too dangerous for our employees, clients and the general public for Butterfly to remain open.”
The doors closed Jan. 11 because co-owner Annette Bolster said she felt she had no other choice.
According to Bolster, water leaks into the store whenever it rains, making the floors slippery in the public areas of the shop as well as the office.
“Several of my employees have actually slipped,” she said.
The week before she closed, Bolster said she herself fell and spent a day in the hospital.
“It was a real eye-opener when I fell and got hurt,” she said.
According to Bolster, she has had problems with water in shop for the past three years ago. Though Kent Station stayed relatively dry during the recent flooding, Bolster said whenever it rains water seems to be coming up from the floor.
“If we get rain consistently for more than two days, I flood,” she said. “It starts in the fall and I deal with it through spring.”
Bolster claimed the flooding is a common problem among other stores in her section of the mall. Managers in two of the stores in her building spoke off-the-record about similar problems, while other store mangers said they had no issues.
Bolster claimed Kent Station Management was aware of the issue, but not responsive.
Kent Station General Manager John Hinds released the following statement:
“As much as Kent Station would like to comment about the situation and share our side, it is inappropriate for us to do so at this time. This matter is being resolved in the spirit of the lease between Butterfly Salon and Kent Station.”
Bolster said she was looking for a new location to reopen Butterfly in the downtown Kent area, but would continue to honor gift cards purchased before the salon closed.
“I cannot open a business with a slip-and-fall waiting to happen,” she said.
For more information or to find out how to redeem a gift card, visit www.butterflysalonandspa.com.
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