(Image: Gearhouse)

Evan Maynard (Image: Gearhouse)

It will be a short hike for the founder of Seattle outdoor gear rental and community startup Gearhouse to the company’s coming Capitol Hill expansion.

CHS has learned the three-year-old hiking, camping, and adventure gear and events community is planning an expansion to E Thomas just off Broadway in the former space where AT&T tested out a short-lived coffee and retail experiment.

The 2,800-square-foot space is being readied as a new outlet for the growing company that provides unlimited gear rental to members along with access to events, classes, and resources like repair, maps, and guidebooks. Permits also indicate the new Gearhouse will offer beer and wine.

“We want Gearhouse to be a place where you can get gear, knowledge and a friend base if you don’t have that network at work or in your apartment building,” founder Evan Maynard told the Seattle Times in 2021.

At the time, the former Blue Origin rocket engineer was growing the South Lake Union headquarters of Gearhouse after starting the business from his “overstuffed” Capitol Hill apartment and a van used in the beginning to deliver gear building to building and door to door, the Times reported. Continue reading →