The lone North Carolina business which experienced a backlash for opposing a gay marriage ban is now thriving
after its story got out.
Bob Page, founder and chairman of
Replacements Limited, which bills itself as having the “world's
largest selection of old & new dinnerware,” said his business
faced a backlash for opposing Amendment One, North Carolina's gay
marriage ban.
Page's 31-year-old Greensboro-based
company contributed $250,000 to the campaign to defeat the measure,
sold t-shirts at its showroom and rented a billboard.
Angry letters and e-mails outpaced
supportive ones.
“I'm always concerned it will hurt
our business. I know we have lost business. But I don't have a
board or shareholders I have to answer to. My life is not about
money,” Page told The New York Times in May.
But since word spread of Page's losses,
the tide has turned. He says he has received over 5,000 mostly
positive email and letters.
“I've been amazed,” Page, who is
gay, told The
New York Times. “We've literally had responses from all
over the world, as far away as Hong Kong. People have written to say
they're leaving their china and silver to us in their wills. A woman
in San Francisco, who isn't gay, placed a $20,000 order.”
“Our sales had been a little
lackluster, but now business is up substantially,” he said.