: A midweek email from M.S. Rau Antiques on Royal Street heralded
the reopening of the store and a return to business as usual in
the Big Easy.
Merely days before, with phone lines still unreliable, it had
been impossible to reach more than a handful of Royal Street's
antique dealers, and they were in places as far removed as
California and New York. So, it came as something of a surprise
to learn that antiquarians who had encamped with families and
friends closer to home had quietly been commuting from nearby
towns, one even sleeping in his shop, to begin the task of
rebuilding their businesses.
Proprietors of The French Antique Shop, Keil's Antiques, Moss
Antiques, Royal Antiques, James H. Cohen & Sons and M.S. Rau
took stock of their individual losses and said the greatest was
the loss of business.
Getting up and running, contacting customers, shipping out
pre-Katrina orders, finding housing for displaced personnel,
getting a head start on starting over - these are the priorities
now. They are the hope of the porters and warehousemen who
removed boards from windows and swept away the remnants of the
hurricane.
Containers that had been diverted twice appeared on the strangely
vacant landscape and were unloaded. On Thursday, October 5, banks
of crystal chandeliers began to sparkle for the first time in
more than a month, lighting the night as they have for nearly a
hundred years.
Sadly, few visitors took notice. There are still no tourists in
New Orleans. Beyond the boundaries of the French quarter, the
city is a wasteland.
At the French Antique Shop, Henry Granet, Marc Freidlander and
Nicole Granet Freidlander lit by the glow of chandeliers.
The plan is for the French Quarter to become the hub from
which business emanates. It is a plan that positions the Royal
Street dealers squarely at the forefront of the New Orleans
renaissance.
Yet the shops that are still boarded are grim reminder there is
much to be done. Ida Manheim, said from California that she
opened Ida Manheim Antiques around October 12. Arthur Harris, of
Arthur Harris Antiques, also plans an opening in the near future.
Only Chuck Robinson of Robinson Antiques is hedging, saying that
the extensive damage to his French Quarter home and his
involvement in a nightclub venture, Napoleon's Itch, take
precedent.
According to Marc Freidlander, of The French Antique Shop, there
is loose talk among dealers of creating a cooperative mailing to
let customers, most of whom are out-of-staters, know Royal Street
is alive and eager for their business. Bonnie Warren, PR person
for the Royal Street Guild, an antique retailer's association,
stated that television crews have promised to cover Royal Street.
Technology too is making its impact on the few businesses that
eschewed it when business was good. James H. Cohen & Son's
and Rothschild's Antiques have both mounted websites in the past
week.
No one contacted for this article expected to see tourists for
two months; many more thought it would be at least six months.
Others predicted the return to normal would take at least year.
Until that is determined, no one is going to break the mold,
though some will try to stretch it.
Bill Rau, president of M.S. Rau and perhaps the most aggressive
marketer of the group, is looking to New York to give an added
boost to his sales. Lent berth at 84 University Place, in the
Charles Cherriff Galleries, Rau opened the New York showroom on
October 10.
