07 Sep 20 Years of Lola Star

Posted at 16:08h in Reflections by
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Anddddd that’s a wrap on my 20th summer in Coney Island. There is no greater lesson in humanity than to spend TWO DECADES of your life on the Coney Island boardwalk. I see more of humanity on a Summer Saturday at my shop than most people see in a lifetime. 

Seriously, I’ve seen it all in this tiny little shop.
But what matters to me the most is the incredible community I’ve built around my store. I tremendously cherish all the customers who have turned into friends through the decades. Babies I’ve watched grow into adults, every year buying their Lola Star tee. There are so so many of you. Some of you I see weekly. Others I see yearly. But I want you to know how deeply I value that friendship we’ve built over the decades at my shop.

I love that so many people feel a special connection to my shop. When you visit it’s like seeing a good friend you haven’t seen in a while. I’ve seen so many of you through so many life experiences… Relationships, marriages, addictions, recovery, jobs, etc. I value those connections and it breaks my heart, more than anything, that if I loose my shop I won’t get to be a part of your lives in that way. As the shop girl on the Coney Island boardwalk you visit and chat about life, dreams, heartbreak, the future… everything. 

I can’t imagine what it would feel like to destroy someone’s cherished dream that they built over twenty years. But that is what my neighbor, Luna Park, is doing to me now. At a time when Coney Island needs my shop more than ever. 

Between the pandemic, loosing my dog and all the drama of being kicked out of my shop,we weren’t able to have a 20th year celebration. 20 years of owning a business is a remarkable accomplishment. I wish it had been honored the way it deserved. Instead this accomplishment was eclipsed by the heart ache and drama of Luna Park raising our rent, demanding a percentage of our revenue and then kicking us out in the midst of an economic crisis and pandemic…. on our 20th year in business. 

Hoping we survive to 21! If we do, we are going to have a HUGE party and celebrate us, you, our community, the way we deserve to celebrate this beautiful accomplishment.