When New Orleans hosted the 1984 World’s Fair, Linda Keenan launched her company with just two foldout tables and about $1,500 worth of merchandise.
From those humble beginnings in the Crescent City’s French Market, Keenan created California Drawstrings/Southern Comfort Cotton — a business specializing in comfortable, natural fiber clothing. The name comes not from any connection Keenan has to the West Coast state, but from a popular clothing line, made in the U.S., that she discovered while attending a boat show in North Carolina.
Needing something to do while waiting to get her real estate license in Louisiana, she devoted herself to sales.
“The clothes were well made, cost effective, comfortable and looked good on people,” Keenan says. “I knew the line could take me far, so I invested in more merchandise and set up at shows to grow the business.”
The better the merchandise sold, the more passionate she became about growing California Drawstrings.
“As a single mother, I knew I had to support myself and my daughter, so I did everything to help make the business a success,” Keenan recalls. “Whatever I made from the company, I put back into growing the company.”
After outgrowing her French Market booth, Keenan set up shop on Royal Street in the French Quarter. She expanded into the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2010 and is now located at 131 Main St. in Old Town Bay St. Louis. Her store previously was located at 216 Main St., but she sold the building to her friend, Lauren Haydel, who founded Fleurty Girl. Prior to that, it was located in Nancy Moynan’s building at 126 Main St., which housed Lulu’s restaurant and several other shops.
She came to The Bay on the suggestion of former mayor Les Fillingame, moved there the following week and has never looked back.
“(We’ve had) several locations over the years, and our loyal customers have continued to follow us,” Keenan says. “We have a great sales team, exclusives on many of the premiere linen and cotton lines in the marketplace and a broad customer base.”
While the business stocked just one line in the beginning, Keenan says she now rotates 50 to 60 vendors between her two stores. FLAX and Matchpoint are among the most popular, she adds, “because people in the South love their linen; it’s essential for keeping cool on those really warm summer days.”
Although a wide variety of women can appreciate the store’s chic, affordable inventory of apparel, accessories and jewelry, Keenan can particularly relate to her curvy clientele.
“As a plus-size customer myself, I know how hard it is to find comfortable, yet fashionable, pieces, and that’s why I think FLAX is one of our most popular lines,” she says. “They appeal to a wide range of women of all sizes, especially our plus-size costumers.”
After 36 years in retail, Keenan is ready to retire and actively searching for the right person to carry on her formula for success. She recognizes that as a niche business, California Drawstrings can’t do everything, so she keeps it within the parameters of cool, comfortable, colorful and unique.
“I used to say, tongue in cheek, that if I knew how to type, I never would have gotten into retail,” she says, “but honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
IF YOU GO
CALIFORNIA DRAWSTRINGS
131 Main St., Bay St Louis
(228) 463-2124
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday;
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday
www.facebook.com/caldrawstrings
