Woman Loses Shop To Coronavirus: 'I Think I Cried 18 Times Today'

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — Coronavirus has stolen a dream come true for a Remsenburg woman who said she was forced to shut her brick-and-mortar shop this week after months of uncertainty due to the pandemic.

While Lisa Oehler's business, Hamptons Consignment Shoppe, will still move forward online, with customers able to purchase her designer and high-end mall brand clothing and other items, she and her daughter Sami began to close their shop in Westhampton Beach this week.

"It was an emotional day, beginning to dismantle the shop with my daughter Sami, my 'baby bird,'" Oehler said. "My shop is a place I dreamt of for the past 20 years."

In 2017, Oehler spoke with Patch about the joy of opening her own business after years of surviving abuse.

"I was in a dysfunctional marriage for 18 years and was hardly allowed to leave the house," she said. "In my second marriage, I was able to make the decision to open the shop I always wanted."

The store's first location in Eastport was the beginning of the dream, she said. "It was a place I loved to go to every day, with people who not only not became my clientele, but friends," she said.

However, she ultimately decided that the location was not ideal, so Oehler said she decided to "step it up a level," and open a new location in Westhampton Beach.

"Through blood, sweat, and tears I created not only a business, but a friendship and second home to locals and visitors. My daughter and I couldn’t wait to get to the shop each day. It wasn’t work. It was our second home."

That said, the business didn't buy her a yacht or a house on the ocean. "It paid my bills and put food on the table," Oehler said. "Regardless, I loved it. It was my job and my livelihood."

And then the coronavirus pandemic hit, shuttering businesses and slamming the local economy.

"Just like that, I'm 'non-essential. Forced to close my doors. Income disappears, but the bills and overhead don't. These have been painful and emotional days, with anxiety through the roof," Oehler said.

A week ago, Oehler made the decision that she could no longer sustain her dream shop.

"I had sleepless nights. This is my income," she said.

Oehler has three adult children; as mother, the coronavirus has brought about new challenges and struggles. She and her son RJ are working together on a blog about his journey with addiction; the two co-author "A Mother's Love — Our Road to Recovery," on Facebook.

Having to shutter her store, Oehler said, hit hard. "Today was the day I went into my shop to begin the closure. It was beyond unfair. I think I cried 18 times today."

But, she added: "I will sustain and conquer. I’m not a quitter. I’ve been through the unthinkable during the past 25 years."