UNIQUE TREASURES – Richard & Reba Lovejoy
BY SARAH HOUGH; PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICK COOPER
On a fateful Sunday in 1964 during a break from studies at Mississippi College, Reba Fenn accompanied her best friend to church. When Reba walked up the church steps to the Immanuel Baptist Church of Panama City, she met Richard Lovejoy who was on break from Auburn University. They now have been married for 46 years, have three talented children, three fabulous grandchildren, and have operated their business, The Antique Cottage, for 34 years.
Reba was born in Panama City. Dick, originally from Boston, moved to Florida in 1961 with his family. Once married, Dick and Reba moved to Kansas when Dick, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was stationed at Fort Riley. As Dick usually worked seven days a week, the young couple decided to spend one of his free Saturdays at a farm sale. Before the day was over, they had bought a trailer load of furniture. As most of it needed repair, Dick and Reba took the furniture to the post hobby shop and restored the pieces to their former glory.
After three years in the army, the couple moved back to Panama City and had a sale of the excess furniture they had bought in Kansas. To their surprise, they made a large profit and realized that the furniture pieces were in high demand. They were inspired to open a business and their first store, based in Millville, opened its doorsd three days a week in 1981. While Dick started working at the Navy Base in Panama City Beach, Reba ran the store with growing success. Soon, the store was open five and six days a week. There was a high demand for the one-of-a-kind furniture and the business prospered. Soon they were making trips to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to purchase antiques for their expanding business. Their children always accompanied them, The Lovejoys encouraged their children to select items they felt would sell in the shop. Reba remembers that she kept meticulous records of what the children chose. That must have been a lot of fun for the children who were directly involved in business decisions that would make the Antique Cottage a very successful family business.
In 1984, after they made a decision to expand the business, the Lovejoys purchased a dilapidated house at 903 Harrison Avenue. Although in poor condition, the house had a rich history. Constructed in 1901 from heart pine, this house has two-inch pine tongue-and-groove floors, walls, and ceilings. It had been part of the Tyndall Turpentine Plantation. In 1935, two houses from the plantation had been moved across St. Andrew Bay on barges and then were pulled by mule teams to move them to their new permanent location. The two houses were placed next to each other on Harrison Avenue. After serving as troop housing in WW2, one of the houses was destroyed by fire and the other would become The Antique Cottage. The family made a number of changes, including a large workshop and adding a new wing and filling it with a treasure trove of quality antiques. The gracious home on the corner of Harrison Avenue and 9th Street is Dick and Reba Lovejoy’s Antique Cottage.
Dick retired from the Navy Base in 1995. At about the same time, Reba and Dick started traveling to Europe, primarily England, to buy antiques. As there is a strict protocol in the buying and importing of antiques, they became very adept at knowing who to contact and how to transact business. They soon learned that in England haggling with the wholesalers was not an acceptable practice, but also that it is customary to be offered tea and scones at the completion of a day of selecting, buying, and loading up their wonderful finds.
Shoppers at The Antique Cottage will most likely meet both, Reba and Dick, on any given day. He will be busy with logistics, delivering, moving, and working on furniture, and she will be welcoming and advising shoppers. Throughout the years, they have added other products, such as beautiful antique-inspired jewelry, which is Reba’s specialty. Dick does the furniture restoration work in the fully equipped shop.
The couple says they make all the business decisions together. When asked for their recipe for a successful marriage and simultaneous success in business, Dick says that they use a consensus management style.
Their children have gained much knowledge and developed their creativity while working with their parents and in their respective professions. Rachelle Youd operates a very successful wedding planning business, Ashley Lovejoy works with BAE, a contractor at the Navy Base and son, Russell Lovejoy, works for E. F. San Juan, a company that manufactures custom molding. As the Antique Cottage is still a family endeavor, the children always have time to help mom and dad when needed.
Dick says they enjoy travel, having taken a number of overseas trips. Each year on their wedding anniversary they take a trip together to celebrate the day.
Dick summons it up by saying “We have always had common goals. As far as the business is concerned, Reba tends to the business side. She works with the customers and handles the details. I restore the furniture and handle the logistics. We are very settled people. We don’t change things. I took the job at the Navy Base and retired 32 years later. I have never looked for another job. We have never changed houses. Reba is driving our ninth Suburban. Really, we have been very blessed.”
Their plans for Valentine’s Day? It is their tradition to go to their church for a Valentine Banquet. Most importantly, they point out that their Christian faith is at the center of their lives.
[author image=”https://www.panamacityliving.com/media/2015/01/Sarah-Hough.jpg” ]Sarah moved from Michigan to the Panama City area in 1985 . She is an avid traveler, having visited more than 20 countries in the last 10 years . Instead of getting shorter, her bucket list keeps getting longer as she finds more and more places to visit . Sarah is a dedicated volunteer with Guardian ad Litem . Much of her leisure time is spent quilting . She serves also on the Gulf Coast State College Education Encore Advisory Council .[/author]