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SHARON L. BONDA clothing store owner receives a helping hand in recouping his apparel shop after looters strike.
ST. PETERSBURG - Clothes from Pellepelle, Phat Farm and The World Famous Rhino Brand are hanging once again in the small space that makes up Chill Stylz.
They signal hip taste. They represent recovery.
The Maxi Mall clothing store is not completely restocked, but enough is on the shelves for owner William Gaye to be in business again after being looted in the recent racial disturbances.
"I'm getting it together, slowly but surely," the African-American merchant said last week.
Gaye, 30, saw most of his stock snatched by looters who broke into the Maxi Mall on 34th Street S last month, apparently taking advantage of protests in Midtown several miles away. He was not insured and estimated his losses between $12,000 and $18,000.
Since then he's gotten help from family members, including his mother-in-law. A few friends have stopped in and left $50 or $100. A couple from Tampa that Gaye did not know left him a check for $200.
"It lifted my spirits," Gaye said of the gift from strangers. "Someone who does not know me. He doesn't even see me (Gaye was not in the store when the check was left). He doesn't have a clue who I am."
The money helped finance a buying trip to New York. There he found some suppliers willing to let him have goods on credit, which he had not wanted to do before. But he needed to restock. Now he eagerly awaits UPS when its brown van pulls up to the mall's front.
On this particular day, UPS has no merchandise for Chill Stylz, but as Gaye walks back, the driver calls out "comeback man" in recognition of the restocked store. He is the regular delivery guy, Gaye says, and they "have a pretty good relationship."
Gaye was not the only merchant in the Maxi Mall that looters hit, but the others did not seem to lose nearly everything. He believes he was targeted because of his upscale merchandise.
Chill Stylz is three booths long. Clothes hang along the walls as well as on seven clothing stands on the floors. This is the style throughout Maxi Mall, which has clothing, jewelry, shoes, furniture, hair braids, salons and more.
Gaye's store supports his family, including his wife who is in school, and two children. He said he feels residual bitterness toward people who took his stock. In fact he believes he has seen a couple of his outfits on strangers in the mall. But he doesn't know for sure. So what can he do except keep going?
"This is how I make money. I ain't going to say I'm too happy, but I can't give up. I have to support my family. I have to deal with it."
While Gaye says he is pretty much over the looting, he adds that he is not as friendly to customers he doesn't know as he used to be. "I feel a little grim toward people."