Opens gift store specializing in home decor
When Elana Bourgeois-Folse returned to Boutte, she got the best of two worlds.
Bourgeois-Folse was back home and had re-established the business she had started with her mother, Thelma Dodson. Founded in 2011 in Harvey, Fleur De Lane’s is now open at 14214 Hwy. 90 in Boutte.
“It’s been great,” she said of sharing a business with her mother. “I have the best of both worlds – a business relationship, as well as my personal relationship with my own mother.”
Their teamwork has kept the store thriving.
“We love what we do,” Bourgeois-Folse said. “We wanted to bring more to the parish that we love so much.”
Crawfish platters, floral designs, wall décor with the fleur-de-lis, wine glasses, decorative platters such as the one featuring the gumbo recipe, as well as an entire line of the Orleans brand of home fragrances with candles, laundry detergent, oils, and room sprays are all among the store’s biggest sellers.
A great part of their success is their focus on offering quality at great prices to customers.
For Bourgeois-Folse, the return to Boutte and family became a sure thing with the birth of their daughter.
“I was just ready to be back with familiar faces with people I knew and grew up with,” she said. “There’s nothing like being with the people you know. You want to come back home.”Boutte turned out to be the opportune place for their business.
“Commercial properties are far and few between so when we found this one, we jumped on it,” she said. “We didn’t want to miss the opportunity that we’d seen here.”
Bourgeois-Folse said her mother loves to decorate, calling her a “design fanatic” and she wanted something that would let them both act on their passion. A home décor store seemed a perfect fit, and Dodson came up with the name.
It was easy, she said. Her daughter loves the fleur-de-lis so she combined that with her daughter’s first name.This is how Fleur de Lane’s came to be.
In an equally fortunate turn, demand for anything with the beloved symbol exploded in Louisiana.
“How can you not love a fleur-de-lis?” Dodson said. “It started after [Hurricane] Katrina. It just went ballistic.”From there, the success carried on through the mother-daughter team’s dedication to a high-quality product line, as well as the personal touch they show customers, such as bringing their items to the vehicle.
Praising her daughter’s “southern hospitality,” Dodson is equally grateful to have her daughter back in Boutte.“It’s just good to be home,” Dodson said. “Not that we didn’t like our new friends in Harvey, but it’s just good to get my baby girl back home.”
Bourgeois-Folse added, “We love St. Charles Parish. We love everything about it.”
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