“The dream was to get La La Land Boutique to Fairhope. Our first location in Daphne wasn’t great. We built the traffic and became a destination shop because we treated our customers well. In December we found a store in Fairhope. We did a complete renovation and opened the doors on February 29. We closed the doors eleven days later on March 11. We put everything we had on red with this move. We won for eleven days, then we crapped out when COVID 19 forced us to close the doors. Nothing was coming in and we had to adapt to stay alive. We are going hard on social media with broadcasts on Facebook and Instagram every other day and those have kept us going. We sold some big pieces today.

I didn’t graduate from high school and learned everything on the streets. I was a military brat and we moved every two years. In high school, I would rather skateboard than go to class. My parents threw me out and they had every right to because I was trouble. I moved with a buddy to Mobile when I was 17. I got a GED and went to Spring Hill College for two semesters. I have no formal training of how things are supposed to be done or how I am supposed to act and had to figure it out. Now my parents are my biggest fans.

I am a recovering alcoholic and have been sober for three-and-a-half years. I spent 25 years drinking myself into oblivion every night. The store became the place I could keep my hands and mind busy. Now there is no desire to drink, and the sobriety has made where I am possible. It unlocked the knowledge I have picked up over the years, but I never put into play until I got sober. I forgave myself for my past and want to make the most of the days I have left and do them the right way. If I were still drinking, the effects of Coronavirus would be destroying me. I would have been lucky to pull out of this alive. I am thankful for my family who loved me through this.

When I was a kid, I didn’t like my parents’ taste in furniture so I pulled cool pieces out of trash piles and put them in my room. I am 49 and still can’t pass a trash pile without slowing down and giving a glance. Restoring a piece of furniture to the beautiful piece it is supposed to be is an artistic journey. I like the tedious tasks and have learned to be patient to get the perfection. I pour my creative side into this.

My day job is a senior strategist for a tech company, antiques are the retirement program. I am adjusting for both jobs, but working from home with the data job has made me more productive. Now is the time to do the things as a small business you didn’t have the time to do. If you have a hobby on the side, get a business license so you can be eligible for the relief benefits. I have been on the phone with my accountant and my banker almost every day. Those are things I never had time to do, but it is going to put me in a better situation down the road.

It is going to be different when we come out of this. I hope we are still doing things together as families. I just restored a large coffee table as a game table. Before this happened, that would have never crossed my mind. People who were once too busy have started playing games again. I hope this is a lasting change. What can we do as a business do to adapt to this?

We are still living the dream of the store in Fairhope. It is a little different now, but we are still paying the rent and growing the restoration business. One day I want to go to Europe to buy antiques and bring them back and restore them. My favorite part of the business is the connection with customers, hearing their stories, and talking history and design. I can’t wait to hear customers say again, ‘My grandmother used to have a table like this and I played on it when I was a kid. Those were good memories’.”