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Despite being an award winning home décor boutique that was recently featured on HGTV and “shop local” campaigns notwithstanding, Lloyd & Lane will be closing the doors to their cozy, little shop on Fair Oaks in February. Their carefully curated vintage furniture and decorative items along with candles, books, throwpillows, garden vessels, milkglass vases, nature-based ornaments, mardi gras masks, original art and so much more is now priced to move. Everything in the store is 50% off, so throughout the month of January, stop in to shop for great deals on beautiful things and visit with Bonnie and Alex.
Both say it is with very heavy hearts that they came to this decision; both love the shop, love what they do and love South Pasadena. It has been a tough year for retail shops and being the new kids on the block, it’s not as easy as one would think to get folks into a new shop. Another strike against them was having the new Blaze location under construction the entire time they’ve been open creating a dead spot right where they could have benefitted from foot traffic. “There’s no question that hurt us,” says owner Bonnie Hargett, “just since Blaze opened, so many more people pop in, many with their pizza boxes, so who knows what might have happened had it all been timed differently.”
Hargett goes on to say, “basically we didn’t have enough people coming in the door. I think that’s the bottom line. We have a lot of regular customers who are very supportive but in the past two days we’ve had so many people come in who either work or live a block or two away and had never been in the store.” Hargett confides, “our most loyal customers actually came from outside South Pasadena; people looking for vintage items.” Adds Tovar, “we had set designers and interior designers come looking for things, people found us on blogs and Instagram.”
Hargett also stresses that she, along with so many other local shops, make it a point to carry unique items that are not readily accessible online and that if she does have something that you can purchase online, she prices it accordingly. “I don’t think the pricing was an issue. I just think we needed more time to keep going,” says Hargett. Also the vendors she works with make a point to not sell the same items in other shops close by. “What you find here is going to be different from what you see at Marz, for example, or Retreat. There is very little, if any, overlap.”
Speaking of other boutiques, Hargett and Tovar can’t say enough about how supportive all the other small business owners have been throughout their two years in South Pasadena and once they announced their closing, how much everyone has been reaching out to offer help of all kinds. The good news is that Lloyd & Lane will continue as a brand and online store with the hope that it may continue in some new form. Something that several shop owners have discussed with the Chamber of Commerce is the idea of a space where several shops could collectively operate out of; similar to the antique market on Fair Oaks in Pasadena.
But for the next month Hargett says, “we’re trying to move as much as we can.” Hopefully this is more of an “until we meet again” for Lloyd & Lane, as Hargett will continue to consult on design projects and co-chair the local chapter of the Women’s Business Initiative with event designer, Anne Bagasao. Keep in touch with Lloyd & Lane on Instagram and on their website. Thank you Bonnie and Alex for beautifying our fair city with your darling shop. We will miss you!
