Months after a group of thieves drove their vehicle through the front doors of Refresh Atlanta in East Point, the clothing/sneaker boutique is reopening.
The shop is just blocks from Main Street, but that did not stop the thieves from crashing into the building and stealing thousands from the business.
Cousins, Baldwin Dockins and Richard Brown expanded their dream from the original Refresh Pittsburgh to their second location in East Point in February of 2023.
“Yeah, it was going great; everything was doing well,” Brown said.
That is until the burglary nine months later in November.
“My alarm went off on my phone and I was watching it, it was devastating,” Brown said.
Watching their hard work crumbling right before his eyes. However, it was not going to defeat the two men.
“We just prayed about it, buckled down and got back to it, like man, we were not just going to give up on a dream,” Brown said.
He added, “We just kept persevering and pushing forward.”
Now, seven months after dealing with insurance, working with the police and repairing the building, Brown and Dockins are re-opening the boutique.
“In every loss there’s a lesson,” Brown said.
The cousins upgraded their security in an effort to prevent another group from breaking into their shop.
Hoping they can turn their experience into a positive lesson for others in the community.
“To change the mindset around here and understand you don’t have to do those type of things. There are other things you can do and we’re willing to work with the community to change that type of narrative.” Brown explained.
Advice from a man who’s experienced his own struggles in life.
“We came up in a rough background where it caused me to get taken off the streets for a little while and during that time, I revamped my life and started learning all the things I was doing wrong, failure, and making myself better and designing a plan to come home and execute it and that’s what we did,” Brown said.
This obstacle is just another chapter in these entrepreneurs’ story in the making.
“It’s always been a dream to work with my cousin and yeah we got sidetracked but we didn’t let that hinder us, we’re survivors and were’ going to get up and grind.
Refresh Atlanta’s re-grand opening is Saturday, June 15, from 12 to 6 p.m. The store is located at 2871 Main Street in East Point.
Anyone with information on the burglary is encouraged to contact East Point Police at (404) 761-2177.