Many businesses in the local area continue to rebuild, and La Pink is no exception.
Leslie Watterson’s business, which was located at 2370 Merrick Rd., was damaged during Hurricane Irene, so Watterson took extra precautions when preparing for Hurricane Sandy.
She bought Sandbags, corked the doors and packed the merchandise to be elevated, but the water burst into the store anyway.
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“It couldn’t stop the water,” Watterson said. “It was like the doors were wide open on the store, and the canal filled the store with almost six feet of water.”
Watterson’s home in South Bellmore is elevated, so the current didn’t get into her house. When the water receded, she and her boyfriend hopped into the car to see if people needed help, and eventually, they headed down to see how bad things were at the store.
“Initially, my boyfriend said it wasn’t bad,” she said. “But I knew it was terrible. All the furniture had been lifted and moved to the left side of the store.”
La Pink was filled with approximately six feet of water, and when the doors were opened, Watterson was taken off her feet by the water surge.
She lost her fixtures and custom made tables, as well as her office, fitting room, computer and storage unit that was located in South Freeport. They stood in salt water for two days cleaning everything to salvage whatever they could. She knew that, after eight years on Merrick Road, she would have to relocate.
“We had the merchandise, but we had nowhere to sell it,” Watterson said. “With the holidays coming, I needed to find a place.”
After two months of being out of business, La Pink found its new home at 59 Merrick Ave, which used to be the home of Yussel’s Place, which has since moved.
Now, the primary goal is to inform the customers of the location change.
“It’s not like I closed to move,” she said. “I closed because there was a disaster. A lot of my customers are still recovering.”
Watterson sent texts and emails to customers that had subscribed to her service to inform them of the location change, but she said that she “misses her South Bellmore and South Merrick customers”.
La Pink is open on Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m; and Sunday from 12-6 p.m. You can opt in to their texting service by texting “LaPink” to 313131.
For more information on La Pink, call 516-826-7465, visit them on Twitter by clicking here, Facebook by clicking here or check out their website.
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La Pink Relocates to Merrick Avenue
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Bobby Stokel May 21, 2013 at 11:17 am
Thank you to everyone so far in showing your support. We still need more signatures so please help…Read More :-)
Michael Ganci (Editor) May 20, 2013 at 12:37 am
We just posted. I was at the scene. Hope this helps! MG…Read More http://merrick.patch.com/groups/breaking-news/p/woman-struck-by-train-at-merrick-lirr-station
Zach T May 17, 2013 at 07:20 pm
The School board is a bunch of morons if they want to remove this designation! There were 0 problems…Read More like this when Malucci was in office, this new superintendent is a waste of space, money, and cares more about his own paycheck then our kids! Between school security, and now this, I motion that we get rid of that skell!
Dr. Kim Lurie May 16, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Bless you, Anthony. And though I know ultimately the "Judge" will have to be held…Read More accountable by a higher authority...those of us who do this work, have not forgotten nor will we allow the system to forget what her role in this travesity was.
Anthony Merlo May 16, 2013 at 10:24 am
Thank you for this wonderful article on a good man pushed to the brink. I appriciate the fact this…Read More came form the heart and did not hold back. As Sacristan at Cure of Ars, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Rich (as I called him) for some time. He was a man of faith and a pleasure to see. Always with a smile and kind word, you would never know what was going on the way he acted. This was a wonderful and insightful article. It is heartbreaking to think that where there was once love between 2 people, things got to the point where one persons life was destroyed by those who could and did for no apparent reason other than having the ability to do so. God will have mercy on Dr. Rich and the ex-wife and "Judge" should pray for the same given their actions.