In the 1930’s, a 30,000-square-foot building opened in the middle of what is now Old Town Battle Ground, housing a dairy plant originally named the Battle Ground Dairymen’s Co-Operative Association. Next month, that same building – known today as Urban Basics & Company – will celebrate its first year selling wares that link the past to the future as a popular vintage store.
According to co-owner Kari Huegel, the store is a family affair; it’s also owned by her husband, Dan, and two sons and daughters-in-law: Derek and Bethany Huegel and Travis and Rebecca Huegel. Three of her other children, Morgan, Whitney and Taylor, help to run the business.
Since purchasing the building in October 2012, Urban Basics has undergone a transformation including extensive roof repair and a much-needed exterior facelift. Wolf Industries, owned by Derek Huegel, performed the upgrades. The store also saw Kari Huegel’s vision of adding consignment vintage spaces come to fruition, and by all accounts that vision has paid off. According to Huegel, in three years Urban Basics has doubled their sales.
The store’s vendor area, affectionately referred to as the ‘barn,’ pays respect to the history of the building while providing an affordable outlet to small business owners of an industry that continues to enjoy growth. About 80 spaces are fit inside the barn, with rents ranging from $20 to $200 per month, plus a 15 percent commission on sales and, according to Huegel, there’s currently a waitlist of 90 people.
“This is the type of stuff we’ve done all our lives and now it’s vogue – upcycling. This is what country folks do and all of a sudden us country folks became vogue,” she said.
Huegel shared that leased spaces in Battle Ground vintage stores are sought after in part because the news of affordable prices to be found in north Clark County has made its way to Portland residents and each store is “set up with a lot of flair.”
On the arts and crafts side of the store, Huegel has been hard at work stocking higher quality fabrics for quilters, which she said is another popular market. She starts her prices at $5.99 a yard, well below the average $10.99 price point of other quilt shops, by purchasing last year’s fabrics and routinely receives compliments on their selection. Home décor and knit fabrics are slowly being introduced as well, and sewing classes are available on request.
Urban Basics, which occupies nearly 15,000 square feet of the building’s footprint, is more than a storefront. It is prime real estate for other businesses including Park Place Painting, which employs six people and leases approximately 1,200 square feet of space on the southwest corner of the building, and The Reflector newspaper, which moved into a 6,500-square-foot space on the southeast corner on August 31. That leaves a roughly 8,000 square-foot canvas to work with should the right tenant or business idea come along.
Alongside her successful venture, Huegel remains grounded in community. She was born and raised in the area and went through the same Battle Ground schools that her mother attended. One of her six employees jokes that she knows nearly everyone who walks through the door.
“There’s a lot of talent in my store and there’s a lot of talent in Battle Ground,” Huegel noted. “The building is kind of a hidden little treasure.”
Urban Basics Co.
209 E. Main St. Battle Ground Founded 2012 www.urbanbasics.co
