Downtown Lafayette bookstore weathers COVID’s stormy business climate, sees brighter days | Business
Bryan Dupree’s early affection for the French language took him from his native Iberville Parish to France and back to Lafayette, where last year he opened the doors of his own bookstore.
Dupree and three business partners — his husband of two years, James Colvin; and two of his LSU law school classmates, Endya Hash and Blair Boles — opened Beausoleil Books a year ago, in the midst of the pandemic. He said its the first downtown bookstore since the 1970s. Later, they opened the adjacent Whisper Room, a wine, cheese and dessert bar, after COVID-19 precautions relaxed.
So far, so good.
Dupree said the four friends did not expect to see a profit during their first year in business and, thanks to COVID-19 and its Delta variant, they’ve “met expectations,” he said with a laugh. But the first 12…
