CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte business who was owner forced to close during the pandemic, and even reduced to having to lay off her own brother, said there's actually been a silver lining as she finds new ways of doing business
After a year and a half in the works, Casey Hickey remembers finally opening her dream shop, 20 degrees chocolates, in South End and just in time for the holidays last year.
“We were super, super excited," Hickey said.
And then March rolled around and she had to shut down and lay off everyone -- including her younger brother who was in charge of retail at the shop.
“That was really painful,” she said.
But Hickey said she managed to find some sweet spots in what was a very bitter time.
“We have come up with new flavors. I think our creativity has gone through the roof because we had a little more time to work on that," Hickey said.
And she finally figured out a way to sell online, something she’d been meaning to do for a while.
“It just meant putting on the big girl pants and getting the website up and running," Hickey said.
The site launched last week and the shop re-opened last month. Though her brother has moved back to their hometown.
”We can look at this and see that it was an opportunity to crystalize what was important to us as a family and then come back energized in a different way with our creativity," she said.
the shop is only open for limited hours Friday-Sunday, but they're hoping to ramp things up as the demand does.