Small businesses are feeling the impact after national boutique chain closes

  Painted Tree, a national boutique that served to provide space for local businesses and vendors to sell their products, closed its doors effective immediately on April 14, 2026.

  Vendors, customers and employees were made aware of the abrupt closure through an email, notifying them the company is being forced to close its doors. Vendors were given until April 24 to gather all of their supplies and belongings. 

  In a statement put out by Painted Tree, they highlighted different challenges, such as rising costs, shifting market conditions, and the constantly evolving nature of how people shop, as reasons for the closure. 

  With a national chain like Painted Tree being affected by these challenges, the attention shifts towards small and local businesses and how they’re responding to the ever-changing market. 

  Lesley Reyes Murguia, owner of Cafe Ollama, feels that a driving issue for the market is a loss of the need and desire for the human component in retail.

  “It’s definitely like a cultural change that I think inevitably we do have to adapt to, and I think we’re just in a weird transition phase with all of that,” Murguia said. “We are losing the intimacy, really, the people connection.”

  Luis Torres, a second-year accounting major, said he believes that the closure of Painted Tree indicates a shift in how people shop.

  “I think a lot of people, including myself, are not addicted, but they really prefer online shopping, mostly because a lot of people value their time,” Torres said. “A lot of these local businesses can’t get in the traffic to stay afloat, because a lot of people just end up looking up products on Amazon or eBay.”

  With the retail market relying heavily on having an online presence, Torres described this as another challenge for small and local businesses, saying there’s “kind of a monopoly” on this part of retail.

 “Local businesses just really have to be good at marketing and present themselves to get people to hopefully buy off of them,” Torres said. “I feel like it’s a big challenge for them since
it’s time-consuming and expensive.”

  As cited by Painted Tree, another challenge present in the retail market is the constantly rising cost of products, whether that’s supplies for the business or the products they sell. 

  “That’s been our hardest thing is just the rising costs, and I want to do the best environmentally, but they’re just getting so expensive,” Murguia said. 

  With all the changes and confusion in the retail space, business owners like Murguia find it easy to get stressed with the constant noise, but never lose optimism to prevail. 

  “There’s just so many layers to everything,” Murguia said. “We’re in a really tough spot right now, and I just hope it all balances out eventually.”
  

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