Celebrating Family-Owned The Blind Alley in Bellevue, WA
Celebrating the Family-Owned Legacy of The Blind Alley
In the spring of 1967, Newport High School senior Kurt Evers spent his afternoons working part-time on drapery jobs from a small shop in Eastgate. Assisting Wayne Garey, owner of Eastside Drapery, Kurt learned how to make custom roller shades laminated to match a client’s draperies and fit Kirsch drapery rods by hand.
By summer, Kurt was handling installations on his own. He would remain in the trade for more than fifty years.
The business that grew from those early jobs—The Blind Alley—is still owned and operated by the Evers family at 14102 NE 21st Street in Bellevue. It remains grounded in the lesson Kurt learned at the start: a window covering is only as good as the hands that measure, make, and install it.
An Engineer Opens a Drapery Shop
Kurt’s father, Gene Evers, began his career as an engineer at Boeing. When the company eliminated tens of thousands of jobs in 1971, Gene accepted early retirement and purchased a drapery, carpet, and upholstery store on Seattle’s Beacon Hill.
An engineer’s habits suited the trade surprisingly well. Custom window coverings are made to fractions of an inch, so precision and attention to detail matter as much in finely finished home décor as they do in aviation. Gene renamed the shop Beacon Interiors and hired Kurt, who continued taking independent installation work on the side.
In 1975, Kurt began installing for Custom Bilt Products of Seattle, the Pacific Northwest distributor for Levolor. The work took him into homes and office buildings throughout western Washington.
In 1980, Gene moved the business home to Bellevue and renamed it Pacific Interiors. He stayed connected with his Seattle customers, and the work continued to grow.
How 2,479 Blinds Became a Bellevue Landmark
In 1981, Gene and Kurt formed Group II Associates, a partnership created to bid on window-covering contracts for commercial and industrial buildings. Their first successful bid was for Skyline Tower in Bellevue. In September 1982, they supplied and installed 2,479 Levolor Riviera blinds there. Koll Tower and the Pacific First Federal building followed. Commercial projects remain part of our work today.
That same year, Hunter Douglas purchased Custom Bilt Products—where Kurt was still a contractor—and renamed it Hunter Douglas Northwest. The Evers family was installing Hunter Douglas window coverings before The Blind Alley had a sign on its door.
In early 1984, Gene and Kurt decided to open a retail showroom together on the Eastside. The timing mattered: Wayne Garey had retired, so they would not be opening near the man who had taught Kurt the trade.
The Blind Alley opened on March 31, 1984, at 14020 NE 21st Street, Suite A, in Bellevue’s Overlake area. In 1988, the showroom moved across the parking lot to 14102 NE 21st Street, where it has remained ever since.
In May 1990, the Journal American celebrated our sixth year in its “Eastsiders” column. The original four-person staff had grown to more than forty. Kurt credited quality name-brand products and service that continued after the sale: “Eighty percent of our business today is from previous customers and from referrals.”
Still a Family Business
Gene stepped back from active work at the end of 1995. In October 2001, Kurt and his wife, Claudia, purchased Gene’s half of the business. They still own The Blind Alley today. Although Gene passed away in 2005, the showroom he co-founded remains in family hands, just steps from its original location.
Over the years, members of the Evers family have worked on the sales floor, managed warranty service, joined installation crews, and kept the office running. Team members from outside the family tend to stay, too: more than one-third have worked here for at least 20 years.
Hunter Douglas selected The Blind Alley for its Gallery program in July 2003, recognizing our product knowledge and expertise. In 2010, we became a Hunter Douglas Authorized Service Center. Today, we are the Eastside’s only Authorized Hunter Douglas Gallery and Service Center.
What Nearly Sixty Years in the Trade Teaches You
Precision matters. Every new team member trains in our store for a year before designing, measuring, or installing window coverings in a customer’s home. If something we installed needs adjustment years later, our own repair department will return to take care of it for as long as you own it.
Local experience counts. We know the homes and buildings of the Eastside—from Lake Hills ramblers and Somerset homes to downtown high-rises and neighborhood businesses.
Relationships come first. We believe every call begins a relationship. Since 1984, our mission has been “to create long-term relationships with our clients by providing the highest quality window fashions with exceptional design and unmatched service.”
We began as Eastsiders working for Eastsiders—and we still are.
Visit Our Bellevue Showroom
Visit us at 14102 NE 21st Street in Bellevue, just steps from where The Blind Alley began. Learn more about our team, or request a consultation by calling (425) 644-7181 or completing our contact form.
We proudly serve the greater Bellevue area, including Seattle, Lake Washington, Renton, Mercer Island, Newcastle, Issaquah, Carnation, and surrounding communities.