The Pullman Art Car, which provides DIY craft kits, closed its storefront in downtown Pullman to return to its roots as a mobile studio until further notice.

“We rely heavily on events of greater than 10 people,” Katie Emerson, The Pullman Art Car owner. “It’s really hard to do that right now in the pandemic.”

On Aug. 26, the boutique announced online that it was going to close at the end of September. They remained open until Sept. 30, and they had classes on the premises as late as Sept. 22. The boutique’s online store remains open in the meantime.

Emerson said as a mobile studio, The Pullman Art Car has been finding success by building and selling takeaway art kits.

The business also has been catering for private parties, she said. They have catered seven parties since the pandemic began, and these parties are almost always a single family with children. Two of those seven parties happened after the storefront closed.

“We are hoping for being able to run some smaller-type events during the holidays this year,” Emerson said. “Right now, we’re looking for venues for those.”

Emily Teuscher is the only official employee of The Pullman Art Car. She said she is a contracted worker, and she has not been asked to work since the storefront closed.

“I have an Etsy page I’ve been working on filling out now that I have more free time,” Teuscher said. “I had another job while I was working at the Art Car that I lost because of the pandemic, so the Art Car was all that was keeping me afloat.”

She is still an active part of the take-home kit assembly, Teuscher said. She found another job just before the Art Car storefront closed, but Teuscher remains an employee of Emerson’s.

The Pullman Art Car is offering classes at the Pullman Recreation Center in November, Emerson said.