'Just a kick in the teeth': Local business owner asks public to help locate stolen trailer
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After more than a year of planning and $19,000 worth of work, a small business owner says he experienced a ‘kick in the teeth’ when his business’s trailer was stolen in Portland earlier in June.
Located in the Alberta Arts District, Hidden Oasis sensory room officially opened its doors in January. According to owner Jeremy Osslund, these rooms are often used to calm people with autism, anxiety disorders or sensory issues.
Osslund and his husband decided to take their business down to the Gorge Ampitheatre starting this month, to provide calming experiences in their mobile unit during the bustling summer concert season.
The business owner says putting the mobile unit together took about a year of planning, which included buying a custom-made trailer with the electric capabilities needed to run the business.
Additionally, Osslund purchased custom wallpaper and insulated the unit that held two Ogawa massage chairs, the neon Hidden Oasis sign, a Frigidaire portable AC, HEPA air filter and canopy.
According to the business owner, the trailer had just one successful weekend in the Gorge before he and his partner drove back to Portland and it was stolen around 3 a.m. on Friday, June 2.
“We came back, unloaded the trailer and had it locked up to our truck,” Osslund said. “Overnight, someone cut the locks off, just put it on their truck and drove away. It took less than a minute.”
He says he shared the security camera footage with his insurance company and the police, and called ‘every pawn shop in the city’ to ask if the items inside the trailer had been sold.
Osslund is hoping that he can recover some of the money invested into the trailer, but officers say it’s unlikely that he’ll ever see it again.
“We've never had something stolen before, definitely nothing that large, and it just makes you feel really unsafe in your neighborhood. I think that's the hardest part for us right now — just a year of work gone because somebody wanted it,” he said.
Osslund is asking the public to keep a look out for the 12-foot trailer, which he says was a piece of art that he and his husband’s livelihoods were dependent on this summer.
The Hidden Oasis brick-and-mortar location is still running for business on 4946 NE 13th Ave., Suite 103. According to the owner, booking a solo sensory room experience is another way to support the business as it tries to relocate its trailer.
“We're hoping someone sees this or sees the pictures and it's either too hard to keep or they just realized that they could just abandon it. It will make its way back to us,” Osslund said.