Photograph by Skye Dunlap

French Kiss: Margaret Thiboutot works as a shopkeeper at her son's store.




Home furnishings shop has roots in city of New Orleans

The French Quarter burnishes the Avenue with the color gold

By Kara Chalmers

Larry Thiboutot (pronounced Tib-i-tot) brought something back from his trip to New Orleans--an idea for a store that would be decidedly different from any other on Lincoln Avenue.

The French Quarter, the antiques and home furnishings store at 1366 Lincoln, with its burnt-orange and black storefront, is striking enough from the outside. But the interior is just as ornate--if not more.

Thiboutot travels frequently throughout the United States and Europe and keeps an eye out for French furniture wherever he goes. He says that in New Orleans there are many shops just like The French Quarter. "In New Orleans, the shops are dramatic," he says.

And dramatic describes The French Quarter. The walls are a deep red, and green velvet drapes are secured with the same gold tassels that appear throughout the store, draped over furnishings and accessories.

Gold dominates the shop from top to bottom. There are gold tea sets, gold frames around oil paintings with gold paint, gold mirrors and even gold tables. Dark wood dressers and armoires are touched with gold, and gold chandeliers, lamps and candelabras are everywhere. On one wall hang golden angels draped with a fluffy white boa, an idea from New Orleans. Thiboutot also bought a black boa there, which lies across the pillows on one of the stuffed chairs.

Thiboutot is the former owner of the Willow Glen Attic. He was sampling semi-retirement when he visited New Orleans and fell in love with the shops in the real French Quarter. There, Thiboutot says, he was again "bitten by the antique bug."

"After about seven months into retirement, I realized that I missed my customers and the creativity of running a home-furnishings business," he said. "And I decided that if I found a small enough space on Lincoln Avenue, that [if] I wouldn't have to have employees and all of the paperwork, I would do it again."

When he was told by his friend Linda Hyatt, owner of The Ginger Cat, which formerly occupied the space, that she was thinking of selling her space, Thiboutot realized he had to act fast. He opened The French Quarter on June 26. He says he already has had a few customers remark that his shop reminds them of New Orleans.

Within the next two weeks Thiboutot plans to unveil an old-style French garden for the back of the store, with wrought-iron railings, tables, statues, fountains and herbs for sale.

Aside from that, Thiboutot plans to keep the store small, with just himself and his mother, Margaret Thiboutot, as shopkeepers. But once he gets settled into business life again, Thiboutot promises, he'll have annual Mardi Gras nights for his customers.

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