E's Kitchen closed; owner cites legal issues

A locally owned cooking store in the Parc Lafayette development is now closed.

E's Kitchen owner Paul Ayo announced the news via a Facebook live video Monday morning on the shop's branded Facebook page.

"It's not how I wanted to do it," Ayo said in the video. "I've had some legal issues. But our doors are closed. You can see in my background: E's Kitchen is empty."

Ayo became tearful during the video as he showed viewers around his now empty retail store.

"This is very hard for us, and we thank everyone that helped us throughout these five years. Thank you so much."

Saturday was the last day of business for E's Kitchen. Ayo spent Monday moving inventory out of the shop.

He didn't share much about the legal issues mentioned in the video.

"I don't know what I can tell you right now," Ayo said in an interview with The Advertiser. "I'm still talking to my lawyers."

Some of the "legal issues" surround the way E's Kitchen closed — without fanfare or a going-out-of-business sale.

"My lawyers told me not to have a going-out-of-business sale because the center might try to confiscate my inventory," Ayo said. "I don't know if they could legally do it, but they've blocked other tenants out before."

Ayo said he is not suing Parc Lafayette and that he just wants "to be done."

Parc Lafayette management learned about the E's Kitchen closure Monday morning through the Facebook live video.

Mistie Rice Babin, spokeswoman for Parc Lafayette, said the development is "in the dark" on the legal issues referenced in the video.

Parc Lafayette has not been contacted by a lawyer representing Ayo or E's Kitchen.

"I am unaware of any legal issue that we had with E's Kitchen," Babin said. "We're not in litigation or anything with Paul. It was a complete surprise to us this morning when we found out that he was closing through Facebook."

Parc Lafayette lease agreements prohibit tenants from hosting liquidation or going-out-of-business sales.

Ayo never asked Parc Lafayette to have such a sale, according to Babin.

"Our lease prohibits it; however, we deviate from the lease occasionally," Babin said. "So if the tenant gives me a request, the landlord will sometimes accept it and make an exception. The reason the lease prohibits it is because it can create a panic or stress for the other tenants. It's important that the community and other tenants view the development as stable. It's not something that we want to be part of our image."

E's Kitchen opened at 1921 Kaliste Saloom Road, suite 103, in the Parc Lafayette development in April 2012.

Ayo moved the shop from the 1,100-square-foot space into the current 3,300-square-foot space in suite 121 in the front of the development in October 2013.

The shop was doing well before the move, and Ayo didn't "have as many issues" with the development at the time, he said.

Soon, however, the local economy took a turn for the worse. The historic flood in August also hit his business hard.

"And the way they ran the shopping center didn't help," Ayo said. "We looked at moving. We looked at a bunch of different shopping centers. We tried, but we couldn't afford to do another buildout with a kitchen."

Parc Lafayette had no outstanding issues with E's Kitchen or its owner, according to Babin.

“E’s Kitchen’s occupancy has been business as usual each month with us," she said. "And we were working hard to keep him in the center. This is a complete surprise to us that he closed his doors.”

Ayo is trying to find a place to host a few final cooking classes for those who have gift cards to E's Kitchen. He said that is what he'll miss most about E's Kitchen — hosting cooking classes and spending time with local chefs.

E's Kitchen was named for Ayo's two daughters, Emma, 9, and Elise, 6, who he hoped would work in his store one day.

Ayo and his family plan to stay in Lafayette, but they're not sure what the future holds for them just yet.

"We're going to miss all of our customers," Ayo said. "We actually became quite close to many of them, and we're just going to miss them and making cooking fun for them."