By Boyana Peeva
VALDOSTA — Only Options is one more business that suffered through the devastating flood several months ago but is finally back in business — with an even bigger variety of items.
“I love my new store,” Sherry Wetherington, owner, said. “Everything is brand new. We have some new lines for people to look at.”
After the restoration, Only Options added a furniture gallery, home accessories, a baby line and gifts.
“The whole building now is very clean and open, and New York-style looking,” she said.
Some of the new lines the store carries are concentrated on mother-of-the-bride special occasions. The home accessories and the furniture line are very different and can’t be found anywhere else, Wetherington said.
Many customers, according to Wetherington, already show a huge interest in them, although the store just reopened at the current location two weeks ago. The gift section is all filled up with funny, colorful and different items that would make anybody smile on their special day.
Lots of new jeans have been added to the women’s clothing, as well as social occasion dresses, shoes, purses and accessories.
“We are trying to be very unique, and that’s been the exciting part of it,” she added.
Wetherington brought a new designer jewelry line to the store as well.
“Oprah mentioned the designer John Wind and is one of her favorite pieces of jewelry,” she said.
To have everything ready and running again, however, Wetherington had to go through a lot of nerve-breaking, financially devastating moments.
She was out of town when she received phone calls that it was going to flood. City engineers had come and checked the area and ensured that the building was way above the flood line.
“It was never supposed to flood,” she said. “And it’s funny, I’ve had so many phone calls on why this property flooded, but there were places in Lowndes County that were supposed to be in the flood areas, and they never flooded.”
Wetherington said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency helps only homeowners, so she did not get any help from them. In addition, the items in the store were not insured, and a lot of them went into the dumpster. Thankfully, Kiss the Bride in downtown Valdosta let her move her merchandise temporarily there since they were discontinuing business at the same time.
“You work so hard all these years to pay off things and something devastating happens, and it’s like I’m starting all over again,” she said. “But from anything bad that happens in my life, God makes something wonderful happen after that.”
Only Options will have a huge grand opening together with Creekside Tavern right behind the store at the end of October, she said.
Wetherington brings items from New York, California, North Carolina and many other places to make sure her store has a huge variety for anybody.
“I don’t buy a lot of anything, but you never need to go out of town to shop because I have it all here,” she said. “It’s an upscale boutique with lots of items.”
She added that stores like hers are becoming “a thing from the past” because many of them had to close business this year.
Only Options is located at 1421 Gornto Road and can be reached by calling (229) 244-1807.
Only Options is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
“The people in Valdosta have been so good to me, and they come and shop here to help my business, and I greatly appreciate it,” Wetherington said.
