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My name is Ali Spaulding, along with my mom, Rusty Spaulding, I own Roundabout Mercantile.
Roundabout Mercantile is an Antique Mall located in Baton Rouge Louisiana. It’s home to 30 vendors who somehow managed to fill up it’s 9,000 square feet with Antiques, Vintage, reclaimed and repurposed furniture and décor. It’s also the home of the Frances Center for Customized Employment – a non profit organization that provides self employment opportunities for adults with mental disabilities.
Or at least, it was.
As far back as I can remember, my mom always wanted to have her own antique shop. She imagined having a little old house, nooks and crannies stuffed with heavy wood furniture, shelves piled high with delicate china sets, cabinets overflowing with colorful casserole dishes that have faded over time from use. A place all her own, stuffed to the gills with the flotsam and jetsam from a thousands different lives that had been well lived.
But she was a single mom with three kids, and contrary to what Antiques Roadshow would have you believe, selling antiques doesn’t exactly pay the bills.
A few years ago she was finally at a place in her life where she could pursue her dream. Her kids were grown, she had a good job, and a little bit of free time on her hands. So she started dreaming again.
She got a small booth at the Roundabout. She called it Gigi’s Attic. It was great. She loved it. And then she lost her job. But then the owner of the store came to us and said that she couldn’t run the Roundabout and the Frances Center at the same time and asked us if we’d like to take over the store.
On September 1, 2015 we were the new owners of the Roundabout. Business was good, we were growing. September 1, 2016 would have been our 1 year anniversary. But August 15th, 2016 Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas had record breaking floods. Our store took on 2 feet of water.
Our vendors were devastated. We were devastated.
We had to gut the building. Pull out all the flooring. Tear out all the drywall.
We watched as vendor after vendor pulled out ruined furniture, piled up their livelihood at the street like so much trash.
We want to reopen. We WILL reopen. But to do that we need some help.
We’re not asking for much. $8,500.
All the donations made go to Rusty and will be used by us to rebuild the store and allow us to re-open by October 1st - just in time for our one year+1 month anniversary.
We need sheetrock, insulation and other supplies to put the walls back up. We need paint to refinish the concrete floor and for the walls. We need new vanities for the two bathrooms and a new sink/cabinet for the small employee kitchen. We need all new interior doors. The air conditioners need some work due to water damage. We also lost a lot of the basic supplies that are used in daily operations of running a store; register tape, merchandise bags, printer paper - anything paper we lost. And if we can fit it in the budget, some labor to help us put it all back together.
A lot of antique malls are one large open building with rows of booths but our building is different. We have a lot of different rooms, a lot of hallways, a lot of nooks and crannies and we hear on a daily basis “I could get lost in here.” One of the things we’ve always wanted to do, and now have the opportunity is to paint a yellow brick road that leads customers through the store.
So for every donation, no matter how small, we’ll paint your name on one of the bricks to always remind us of the people who helped us rebuild our store.
The sooner we can rebuild the sooner the Frances Center can open again, the sooner our vendors can get back in and start their businesses again. The sooner we can start our business again, start our lives again.
While this is our business that we run together, I'm doing this go fund me for my mom. Growing up, my mom did everything in her power to make sure that my dreams would come true. So now it’s my turn.
Roundabout Mercantile is an Antique Mall located in Baton Rouge Louisiana. It’s home to 30 vendors who somehow managed to fill up it’s 9,000 square feet with Antiques, Vintage, reclaimed and repurposed furniture and décor. It’s also the home of the Frances Center for Customized Employment – a non profit organization that provides self employment opportunities for adults with mental disabilities.
Or at least, it was.
As far back as I can remember, my mom always wanted to have her own antique shop. She imagined having a little old house, nooks and crannies stuffed with heavy wood furniture, shelves piled high with delicate china sets, cabinets overflowing with colorful casserole dishes that have faded over time from use. A place all her own, stuffed to the gills with the flotsam and jetsam from a thousands different lives that had been well lived.
But she was a single mom with three kids, and contrary to what Antiques Roadshow would have you believe, selling antiques doesn’t exactly pay the bills.
A few years ago she was finally at a place in her life where she could pursue her dream. Her kids were grown, she had a good job, and a little bit of free time on her hands. So she started dreaming again.
She got a small booth at the Roundabout. She called it Gigi’s Attic. It was great. She loved it. And then she lost her job. But then the owner of the store came to us and said that she couldn’t run the Roundabout and the Frances Center at the same time and asked us if we’d like to take over the store.
On September 1, 2015 we were the new owners of the Roundabout. Business was good, we were growing. September 1, 2016 would have been our 1 year anniversary. But August 15th, 2016 Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas had record breaking floods. Our store took on 2 feet of water.
Our vendors were devastated. We were devastated.
We had to gut the building. Pull out all the flooring. Tear out all the drywall.
We watched as vendor after vendor pulled out ruined furniture, piled up their livelihood at the street like so much trash.
We want to reopen. We WILL reopen. But to do that we need some help.
We’re not asking for much. $8,500.
All the donations made go to Rusty and will be used by us to rebuild the store and allow us to re-open by October 1st - just in time for our one year+1 month anniversary.
We need sheetrock, insulation and other supplies to put the walls back up. We need paint to refinish the concrete floor and for the walls. We need new vanities for the two bathrooms and a new sink/cabinet for the small employee kitchen. We need all new interior doors. The air conditioners need some work due to water damage. We also lost a lot of the basic supplies that are used in daily operations of running a store; register tape, merchandise bags, printer paper - anything paper we lost. And if we can fit it in the budget, some labor to help us put it all back together.
A lot of antique malls are one large open building with rows of booths but our building is different. We have a lot of different rooms, a lot of hallways, a lot of nooks and crannies and we hear on a daily basis “I could get lost in here.” One of the things we’ve always wanted to do, and now have the opportunity is to paint a yellow brick road that leads customers through the store.
So for every donation, no matter how small, we’ll paint your name on one of the bricks to always remind us of the people who helped us rebuild our store.
The sooner we can rebuild the sooner the Frances Center can open again, the sooner our vendors can get back in and start their businesses again. The sooner we can start our business again, start our lives again.
While this is our business that we run together, I'm doing this go fund me for my mom. Growing up, my mom did everything in her power to make sure that my dreams would come true. So now it’s my turn.
Organizer and beneficiary
Rusty Spaulding
Beneficiary