New Logo, New Beginnings
“Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness yet become something beautiful.” -Unknown
Hello Finders Keepers Family,
It is with a lot of joy that I wanted to share with everyone our company’s new logo. It has been in the works for some time and was placed on the backburner due to the pandemic. Since I took over ownership in July 2020, it has always been on my mind. I know it is a change to get used to seeing, but change can be good. I always knew I somehow wanted to have a butterfly in the new brand logo. I wanted to share the reason for this with each of you and what it means to me.
Some of you may not know that before I became owner of Finders Keepers Consignment Stores, I was in a completely different career as a Vice President with BNY Mellon for 17 years. I was married, had two beautiful daughters and a stable job. However, in October 2018 I was told I was going to be let go because our office was being downsized. I was devastated and fearful of my future. I had always been a lifelong shopper at Finders Keepers and knew Bonnie from church. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have imagined that she would offer me the chance at becoming the owner of her stores She had been praying for some time for the right person to come along. Many have heard this story before, but God was in this from the very beginning. It took a lot of courage to start volunteering in the stores to figure out if I would be interested in doing this or even could do it! I prayed a lot for guidance with this decision. Finally, it was clear to me that I had to put my faith in God and he would do the rest. I was confident God was with me, all he needed me to do was to take a leap of faith. Sometimes that is the hardest thing to do in the midst of fear. Fear is the enemy that may rob you from taking the chances God needs you to take so he can really show you what he can do with your life and the blessings he has in store for you if you trust and have faith. God had always been faithful to me; this is what I kept reminding myself.
In addition to the change of career, I also was going through a divorce after 21 years of marriage. The year 2020 between the divorce, taking on ownership of the stores and the unforeseen pandemic, it was likely the darkest year of my life. In the quiet of the darkness though God is still working. I never lost faith, but there were definitely many hard days for me. Hard because no small business owner had ever been through this! There was not a playbook for us to deal with what we were seeing, and I was totally new to store ownership to begin with, so it was difficult. Hard because I doubted myself a lot. Hard because I was exhausted and worried. Hard because life is hard sometimes, for everyone. I just continued to do the best I could, take one day at a time and keep the faith. I want to share something that left an impact on my heart. An example of faith was found on the wall of a concentration camp. On it a prisoner had carved the words:
I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine,
I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown,
I believe in God, even when he doesn’t speak.
What eyes could have seen good in such horror? There is only one answer: eyes that chose to see the unseen.
Good news is that we have weathered the worst of the pandemic. Finders Keepers has survived and because of the PPP loans and everyone pulling together to do more with less staff, we made it!!! We are seeing signs of life returning to normal and sales increasing. Now out of the darkness a transformation happened in me and for the stores, hence the symbol of the butterfly We have our wings and will soar. I hope you love it as much as I do.
We have been around 37 years and I have no doubt we will continue to grow and be in business for many more years to come in this community of Avondale Estates & Decatur that support us. None of this is possible without each of our customers and consignors. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
With much gratitude and love,
Lee Ann
