By Sara Beth Williams–
A new winter sports shop is expected to open soon on Auburn Boulevard in the site formerly housing a florist shop that was forced to close in 2020.
A banner on the front of the building at 8252 Auburn Blvd. in Citrus Heights advertises a new winter sports shop called Re-New Winter Sports with a sign that reads “Coming Soon.”
Additional signage indicates the shop will operate similarly to businesses like Play It Again Sports, which buy and resell used sports equipment. The store also appears to allow trading in sports equipment.
An online search for the business shows that the winter sports shop was previously located on Madison Avenue in Orangevale but is currently listed as temporarily closed. A Facebook page for the business indicates that the shop now has a Citrus Heights address, but no other announcements have been posted to its social media account. A sign on the front door indicates the shop will open for the upcoming winter season on Nov. 24.
The shop specializes in ski and snowboard equipment, with the tagline on their social media reading, “Don’t waste your money renting ski and snowboard equipment and winter gear when you can buy. ”
With the recent rainstorms over the last week, several ski resorts in the Sierra Nevada mountains are preparing to open for the ski season, with hundreds of seasonal employees returning to work and snow machines running in the overnight hours when the temperatures are coldest to add more snow to the accumulating fresh powder. Typically, ski resorts aim to open for business the weekend before or the weekend following Thanksgiving. when weather permits.
The previous tenant, Mom’s Wholesale Florist, operated out of the building for years but suddenly stopped paying rent in the fall of 2019, according to the landlord. Later in 2020, following the COVID-19 shutdown, the courts shut down when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on evictions to protect tenants struggling due to the shutdowns.
Landlord Dan DeVries told The Sentinel in the fall of 2020 that he was left with few options to solve the dispute, which began before the pandemic, and eventually resorted to holding picket signs outside the shop nearly every day for weeks.
Related: Citrus Heights floral shop forced to close amid landlord-tenant dispute—Citrus Heights Sentinel
After first attempting to file an eviction for Azevedo on his own, DeVries reported that he hired an attorney, and the case was finally heard Tuesday, Oct. 6. The Judicial Council of California voted to end its temporary moratorium on evictions, effective Sept. 1. DeVries accused the tenant of living on the premises without authorization.
In an email to The Sentinel on Oct. 8, 2020, then-Lt. Michael Wells with the Citrus Heights Police Department said the building was deemed uninhabitable and “unfit to occupy” by the city’s Code Enforcement Officers. The shop owner was evicted, and the business was immediately shut down.
Re-New Winter Sports is located at 8252 Auburn Blvd.
