A romance bookstore wrapped up its grand opening celebrations on Sunday morning in Alexandria, Virginia. But that night, a fire swept through, leaving behind a layer of soot on the carefully curated books and forcing the business to shutter.
It’s not the only small business impacted by the flames. The bookstore is one of three women-owned businesses that operated under a shared storefront in Alexandria, Virginia.
Little Birdies Boutique, Madame Coco Emporium and the Friends to Lovers had called the building home. Now, the business owners have said the structure — which is located right off King Street, at 103 South Saint Asaph St. — is condemned.
“My intention here was to create a women-owned consortium of businesses where people could come and support all of us in one building,” said Meshelle Armstrong, who owns Madame Coco’s. “So that this happened is just really devastating.”
On Tuesday, the women were able to go inside to size up the damage to their stores.
“Everything is with an inch of soot on it, and there’s really nothing salvageable,” said Shanlee Johnson, owner of Little Birdies.
All three were damaged by the smoke and water used to extinguish the flames, according to the Alexandria Fire Department. The fire came from inside the building and the Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating how it started.
On the day of the fire, Friends to Lovers closed out its opening celebrations by passing out boxes of free macaroons to customers.
The business’ owner, Jamie Fortin, said she was reading a romance book in bed, about to go to sleep when she heard about the fire. She and her boyfriend “jumped up” to get to the store.
“They wouldn’t really let us in much less that night, we were able to go up and just take a look in the dark,” she said on Tuesday. “But today’s the first day we really saw the damage.”
The store’s books are covered in soot, along with custom art Fortin had commissioned, including a piece of embroidery by a local artist.
“That was the hardest part, was the stuff that’s going to be harder to replace,” she said.
With paper being porous, she doesn’t want to sell the books damaged by smoke.
“We’re hoping to start fresh,” she said.
After a “successful” opening weekend, she said the bookstore sold a lot of inventory and is now looking for another space to do business.
“I had a few days where I just was sad and sat with my cat and drank wine and just could grieve a little bit,” Fortin said. “But I’m really excited to rebuild.”
Johnson said in a post on social media Little Birdies’ merchandise “much of it designed with love and care in-house — has been destroyed.”
“We’ve been a staple children’s boutique in the DMV for over 10 years,” Johnson told WTOP. This is really devastating. We’ve been just trying to regroup.”
Her business has been open since 2012, previously operating out of storefronts in Georgetown and Tyson’s Corner.
Armstrong, the chocolate shop’s owner, said she was “shaken” by the impact of the fire on Madame Coco and the neighboring businesses.
“These shops have been our partners, our friends, and a source of inspiration every single day,” she wrote on Instagram.
How to help
Mayor Justin Wilson called the fire “heartbreaking,” and said the city will work to help the business owners.
“I know small businesses can rarely shoulder any kind of shock, and this is certainly the most significant, not being able to to open for an extended period of time, and so we’ll see what we can do to assist,” Wilson said.
While the building is being repaired, all three businesses said they will look for ways to engage with customers, such as pop-up shops.
Those interested in helping Friends to Lovers can purchase books from bookshop.org or audiobooks from libro.fm — a portion of the proceeds will go the Alexandria business.
You can donate on GoFundMe to Friends to Lovers or Little Birdies Boutique.
“Once I opened, I really feel like I kind of gave the store to the world,” Fortin said. “It’s not just mine anymore, and it feels like everyone’s really taking that responsibility seriously, and I’m really grateful for it.”
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