By Holly Westbrook 

The Orange Leader

 

The Orange Key, located in an older 1952 home on 2301 16th Street, will host its grand opening Fri. from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sat. from 10 a.m.  

Laurie Hyman, owner, and Orange native first opened the store in Oct. 2019, but because there was no sign for The Orange Key and then the holidays took precedence, the grand opening took a backseat. 

“I really have a heart for Orange, and I want to provide shopping locally. I want to see the city grow and succeed,” Laurie said. “I feel like we have a lot to offer.” 

On Friday, the first 24 customers to make a transaction will receive a free “Orange Key” shaped sugar cookie. 

Both event days, The Orange Key will donate one dollar for every transaction made to the non-profit organization Harvest House in Beaumont. Anyone who wishes to donate at the grand opening may do so at any time as well. 

Harvest House, according to their website, is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2010 as an initiative to fight child sex trafficking, or the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in Southeast Texas and provide aid, advocacy and mentoring to victims. 

To learn more about Harvest House visit their website.

The store has 20 vendors offering retail, resale, repurposed and artisan vendors who create their own products.  

 “Part of what I’m wanting is to help people who wish to grow their own business get started such as artisans’ vendors who only have Facebook as an outlet to share their work,” Laurie said.

Laurie said she got the name idea from the unique perspective she has. 

 “I believe each of us has our own Orange key in us,” Laurie said. “The keys are used to unlock the success of the community. Your key might be to provide a new business in the city, or another key might be to shop locally to support those small businesses. No matter which key you carry, we all have a part to play in unlocking Orange’s future…”  

Through the years she has seen the city grow and decrease in population.  

 “It’s almost a mystery why our city is not succeeding the way it is,” Laurie said. “We have the Interstate and the waterways – we have so much to offer (to bring outsiders into Orange.) 

“I hear people complaining about local stores closing, but some don’t go out and shop local. …if we don’t go out and shop locally, we won’t continue to grow.” 

Part of what I’m wanting is to help people who wish to grow their own business get started such as artisans’ vendors who only have Facebook as an outlet to share their work. 

For more information call 409-330-4301 or you can find information about the shop and its 20 vendors on their Facebook at The Orange Key. 

Front and rear parking with a side drive is provided, and sharing is recommended for this grand opening.