This Wig Store, Thought To Be The Only Black-Owned One In The Northwest, Vandalized And Owner Says ‘It’s Just Too Stressful’

Tomas Kassahun
·2 min read
12
This Wig Store, Thought To Be The Only Black-Owned One In The Northwest, Vandalized And Owner Says ‘It’s Just Too Stressful’ | NIKLAS HALLE'N via Getty Images
This Wig Store, Thought To Be The Only Black-Owned One In The Northwest, Vandalized And Owner Says ‘It’s Just Too Stressful’ | NIKLAS HALLE'N via Getty Images

Callie’s Custom Hat Wigs, the only Black-owned wig shop in Oregon, was vandalized in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

The store’s owner, Tralice Lewis, said a masked person was caught on surveillance footage on Sept. 26 while vandalizing the shop and defacing the logo using black spray paint, the Atlanta Black Star reported.

“The person who was vandalizing my store recorded himself doing it. I don’t know if he was on live and what platform he put that on,” Lewis said in an interview with the Atlanta Black Star. “The only reason he stopped spraying is because he ran out of paint.”

In 2020, Lewis opened her wig shop as a tribute to her late mother, Callie, who worked as a hospice nurse for over 30 years. The shop is also dedicated to Lewis’ daughter, who died during pregnancy. Lewis chose pink for her store’s logo as a tribute to her daughter.

“The pink represents my daughter,” she said. “I always do something purple in honor of my mom because my mom always wore purple. She always wore a purple lip, and it represents royalty. And me being able to be of service to my community is what helps me be close to my mom because she was such a person who was a caretaker along with myself.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Callie’s Custom Hat Wigs has been attacked. Previously, perpetrators rubbed feces on poles outside the building.

“They’ve taken to Facebook community groups saying that my store is only for Black people and that they need to bring up discrimination and segregation,” Lewis said. “It’s just too stressful.”

The Oregon store owner especially takes pride in her store because she sells wigs for people with medical issues. Now, she has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of fixing the damage to her store. She has raised $3,265, exceeding her $3,000 goal.

“Tralice helps the community with wig donations to and supports people from ALL background,” the page states. “Her store is a Safe Space for EVERYONE. This donation will help alleviate cost of things she will have to replace from this current bout of racism and the past that she is still financially recovering from.”

According to The Oregonian, police said they “will follow the evidence in an attempt to identify a suspect and determine if this was a bias crime.”