After first opening Bigfoot Treasure — originally known as the Twin Cities Trading Post — in downtown Chehalis back in 2009, Bigfoot Treasure owner Mitch Moberg is now looking for someone to take the reins of his unique gift shop.
His goal was to create a gift shop where customers could find a wide variety of hard-to-find and eccentric products.
With everything from Bigfoot track castings to paranormal-themed novelty gifts ranging from socks to bumper stickers to board games, Bigfoot Treasure offers a lot of unique merchandise unavailable elsewhere.
The Chronicle visited Bigfoot Treasure on Tuesday, April 1, to talk to Moberg about why he’s looking for a new business owner.
“I want to transition to being the landlord instead of the operator of a brick-and-mortar retail business, which I’ve been doing for the vast majority of my life,” Moberg said. “I’m ready to try some different things.”
He hopes to focus on organizing an off-site, event-based business and “maybe some different jobs out in the woods.”
Moberg intends on maintaining ownership of the building, located at 548 N. Market Blvd.
While he’s searching for someone who is interested in maintaining Bigfoot Treasure as it is with the same kind of stock, he understands that might not happen.
The building is 2,800 square feet.
“If a qualified tenant signs a lease that we negotiate, they can do with it as they will. Ideally, in a perfect world, we come up with a situation where we transition ownership of Bigfoot Treasure to a new owner. That’s easiest for me,” Moberg said.
Moberg has no intentions of closing the business while he searches for a new owner.
“We’re not planning on closing it at all. I enjoy being downtown, in this neighborhood,” he added. “It’s not a bad job. I just want to do something different. I’m still having fun doing what I’m doing, just want to change things up.”
For more information, call Bigfoot Treasure at 360-996-4259 or message the business on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BigfootTreasure.
Legends of the Mountains Townhall
Moberg is already helping organize the first ever Legends of the Mountains Townhall, scheduled for June 21 and June 22 at Longmire Springs Brewing in Packwood.
The event will feature a vendor market, food trucks and beer from Longmire Springs, along with four speakers.
Those speakers include:
• Yakama tribal member and Indigenous Bigfoot researcher Mel Skahan
• Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization researcher and retired aerospace engineer Scott Taylor
• Former logger and forester turned author and researcher Thom Cantrall
• Field explorer, researcher and filmmaker Barb Shupe
“Mel Skahan’s one of the main guys. He’s an elder with the Yakama Tribe. They’re all really nice people,” Moberg said.
Along with getting to listen to stories from the researchers, attendees will also be given the opportunity to share their own cryptid encounter stories. This event is free to attend.
“We’re also going to have at least one Bigfoot researcher on site here (at Bigfoot Treasure), and businesses up and down different events as well that day. Turns out it's the summer solstice (that weekend),” Moberg said.
While Bigfoot Treasure is one of the sponsors of the Legends of the Mountains Townhall, Moberg has to remain in Chehalis to run the business that weekend.
“I can’t be in two places at once when you’re doing brick-and-mortar,” Moberg added.
Longmire Springs Brewing is located at 112 Norman Way in Packwood.
Vendor spots for the event are still available.
For more information on the Legends of the Forest Townhall, email bigfootmtnlegends@gmail.com or message the event coordinators on their Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/ycker4cx.
