Customers of Lonnie’s Lingerie may notice a new face and some changes in the near future.
Long time owner and fixture of Baker Street Joyce Jackson has sold Lonnie’s.
Jackson bought the store seven years ago and said she’s made a lot of changes in that time.
“Changes that I’m really proud of and happy with,” she said. “I really took it to a different place than it was before. I got to a point where, I felt really good but also felt that it was a time for a little bit of a change.”
Since it was announced that Jackson was going to be selling Lonnie’s, one of the biggest questions she’s been getting is “What’s Joyce doing?”
“I don’t really know the answer for that yet,” she said. “I have a couple things that I’m working on but nothing is definite yet. I’m not sure.”
For now she is staying in Nelson to help new owners Tobias Lawrence and Grant Parnell transition to the new business.
Lawrence had been living in Victoria with Parnell.
Both were working for the government, but after coming to Nelson for a wedding they got the idea that moving to the area permanently might be worth pursuing.
“My partner, he can leave government in 15 months so we were sitting at Dominion Cafe and he said I could relocate back here,” said Lawrence. “He was here in the late 80s or early 90s in forestry. We started looking at houses and accidentally hit the commercial button on the MLS site and I saw that Lonnie’s Lingerie was for sale because when I lived here in the 90s I used to shop here.”
While Lawrence was living in Nelson, she said she would by Calvin Klein “under things” from Lonnie’s, and remembers the changes Jackson made.
“I remember when Joyce bought the place and it was in the Nelson Trading Company and I remember that transitioning she did and got really excited about it,” said Lawrence.
Even though Jackson is excited about the changes that Lawrence is going to make moving Lonnie’s into a new chapter, she is sad to see hers come to a close.
“This is my baby and I feel a little sad, more than a little sad, but I know Tobias will be great and I feel so good about where the business is going,” said Jackson. “It’s going to keep going and I’m so excited about that. Personally I’m a little sad but I’m happy that Lonnie’s is going to live on and perpetuity and get a fresh perspective which any business needs from time to time to keep it vibrant and interesting.”
Jackson has played an important role in the Nelson Business Association, and the Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce.
When she bought Lonnie’s, like Lawrence she had no experience in lingerie.
“I worked in insurance,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s weird as we’re going through this transition because Joyce and I never knew eachother,” said Lawrence. “I would come in the store and my focus and attention would go to something else – Buttercup, her dog – as we’re going through this particular transition we’re noticing that we have a lot of similarities which is comforting and I think what Joyce has done to the store has been extraordinary. It’s quite a legacy that she’s leaving. Everywhere you go around town, everyone speaks so highly of her.”
Both Lawrence and Jackson agreed that no matter what industry they came from, what matters most is customer service and treating customers as they want to be you yourself would want to be treated.
