The Leelanau Ticker launched one year ago this week, a milestone that prompted a check-in with two entrepreneurs from our first feature. At the time, Mitch and Charynn Meoak brimmed with excitement about their new Aveda salon and home decor retail shop opening in the meticulously refurbished historic space at 117 Broadway in Suttons Bay.

Refuge Industries was set to open just as COVID-19 would officially arrive in Michigan.

Also unbeknownst to the Meoaks, they would soon be adding the biggest surprise yet — a new baby. While wading through the stops-and-starts of the pandemic, they felt nearly every pressure point of business ownership specific to Leelanau County: housing, hiring, and childcare. But they’ve survived the storm. How did they pull it off? Read on.

The Meoaks were able to open their Refuge Salvage Works retail space — with woodworker Mitch’s wood salvage pieces, handmade knives, curated antiques and locally sourced apothecary products — in late May. June 10 saw their first clients in Refuge Salon. They say business and profits for both actually surpassed what the pair planned for this year.

Adds Mitch, “Yes, even those expectations before we knew COVID was coming.”

Charynn credits a hard-won, but stellar staff who understand their vision of a combination business that offers Leelanau-specific experiences for clients. “Since we opened, our biggest hiccup was trying to hire enough staff to keep up with demand,” she says. “We lost a couple of receptionists along the way. Now we have an amazing receptionist, who will be doing the Leelanau farmers markets for us this season.”

The salon now supports three full-time stylists “and we’re looking for one more, and a dedicated nail tech, as well as a few more contract employees for weddings.” The hires are as much to meet demand as to provide work-life balance. “I want our employees to have days to be able to enjoy living up here too. It’s been difficult to achieve.”

A vital component to the pace of their success is the small-town connectivity that happens naturally in a salon chair.

Mitch explains that he just came from a custom woodworking client’s house, “who actually came in to see Charynn originally,” adding, “It’s been great getting to know people from the area who have been here for generations — whether they built a cabin in 1930, or they are a 5th generation farmer.”

Charynn says, “I go home nightly, and say, ‘Mitch you are never going guess who I met today.’”

This had led to serendipitous relationships for Mitch in the antiques world: “This afternoon I am meeting with a gentleman in Empire, Steve Stier, who has been a preservation specialist in Leelanau County for years, saving old buildings, barns and antiques. It’s such an honor to have people feel comfortable to have me out to their barn or property, and for me be the concierge to find the right home for their artifacts.”

Another recent barn visit revealed a discovery straight out of a mystery novel: “I came across a very old, locked suitcase with a Manhattan address on it in the back of an old barn here in Suttons Bay. The owner knew nothing about it; I took a gamble and bought it. After busting the lock off at home, it was filled with fabric samples from “Dan Cooper Designs” and “Schumacher Fabrics” dated from the early to late 1950’s. Needless to say they are beautiful.” Mitch is currently getting these appraised; take a peek on Refuge Salvage Works' Instagram. 

Mitch says he’s now six clients deep, something he wishes he could tell their future selves back in April after he’d quit his full-time job at Maple City’s Stevens Propane, and, as parents of a 4- and a 2-year-old, they had a baby due in October. “The baby was a surprise, a total, total surprise, we had to do IVF with our first two children before this little miracle baby came.”

But he says, “It’s fight or famine. We focused on the things we can control and did the best at those. There are always going to hurdles. You have to make the most of it.”

“To be fair, like childbirth, I blacked some of it out,” laughs Charynn. “But we so believed in our vision, we took it day by day. I had so many voicemails with people wanting to get in, we know people in the county needed a place like this. Later, I’d look down at my belly, not knowing how we would keep up with demand. But there was light at the end of the tunnel.”

The couple and Charynn’s mom now tag-team childcare. The last piece of the puzzle for the Meoaks is something Charynn says, “all of my clients moving here talk to me about: securing long-term housing.”

The Meoaks — who had been living with Charynn’s parents, with their plans to build on a parcel in Burdickville on pause — moved in September to a rental house on the property south of the historic gristmill in Glen Arbor. Says Mitch, “It’s a 1936-era home, built by the Brammer family on a wonderful piece of property. Turner Booth is our landlord, and we have a similar appreciation for historic preservation. We have an immense amount of gratitude.” As renters, they are working with Ranae Ihme, broker and manager at Leelanau Vacation Rentals and LVR Realty in Glen Arbor to figure out what’s next for them.

And in the meantime, they say, their business landlords, Suttons Bay’s James and Sharon Williams, “are amazing. They were beyond fair with us with some rent forgiveness with COVID, before we could get open and running.”

So, after this wild ride, what more? The Meoaks have trademarked their “Leelanau Local” brand — which started as stickers back in June, and took off to become a line of apparel which arrives mid-March. Part of the Leelanau Local proceeds will go to an advocacy group that works to support abused children in the region. “Leelanau Local is another venture we didn’t foresee,” says Charynn. “But locals like people to know who they are!”

She adds that a client mix of locals, seasonal residents, and Leelanau visitors is a snapshot of the county they love — and plan to be a part of for the long haul.

“I’ll have a burial plot in Leelanau County,” laughs Mitch. “I fought my whole life to get here…my kids will be raised here.”

Echoes Charynn: “I want to say how appreciative we are of the people in the area who have supported us, and the great staff we’ve been able to build. I can’t say enough how lucky we are,” adding, “But there’s no doubt that we will work hard to be here.”