Some particularly hard news this weekend: F&F Botanica, one of the city’s oldest, and certainly the largest, candle and spiritual supply stores, has closed its doors permanently.
Whether you’re an ironic hipster visitor looking for Lucky Lottery candles and Good Luck House Blessing Floor Wash, a serious adherent of Voudon, Santeria, Spiritual Church or other disciplines in need of supplies, or just hedging your bets and looking for a little Florida Water to splash on before heading to the track, F&F on Broad Street, across from the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, has been the go-to spot for candles, oils, herbs, powders, statues and books for over 30 years.
Felix Figueroa was born January 4, 1934 in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. As a young man, he moved to New Orleans and began a 35-year career in the grocery business, mostly with the Canal Villere chain. At the same time, Figueroa built a small business distributing candles and spiritual supplies around the city.
In 1981, Figueroa bought The Kingdom of the Yoruba Religion store on Broad Street, owned by Enrique Cortez, author of Secretos de la Religion Yoruba, and renamed the store F&F Spiritual Church Supply.
(Spiritual Church traditions, often confused with Voudon or Santeria religions, have deep roots and many adherents in New Orleans.)
In the mid-80s, Figueroa’s daughter Tanya and son-in-law, Jonathan Scott went to work at F&F and through the 90s, helped Figueroa expand both the space and inventory, becoming one of the country’s best-known botanicas.
In August of 2005 F&F became one of the many victims of federal neglect and mismanagement of the SELA levee authority of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Jonathan and Tanya relocated to Portland, Oregon and opened a satellite store of F&F, the Orleans Candle Co. In 2010, they returned to the city and F&F, helping the company regain and surpass its previous prominence in the region.
And it wasn’t just the mind-bogglingly comprehensive inventory that made F&F number one in its field. Reading reviews of the store on Facebook or Yelp, you see over and over phrases like, “helpful,” “friendly,” and “listened to me.” The extended Figueroa family and their employees were notable for their patience and empathy.
Last month, on July 10, Felix Figueroa left this world. While he was often touted for his success in business, he wished to be remembered for his charitable and community work. A co-founder of the Spanish American Business Association and founder of UNETE, a philanthropic organization helping build schools in Latin America. His obituary can be found here.
But sorrows, as the Bard teaches, rarely come as single spies. Barely a week after Figueroa’s death, another longtime member of the F&F family, Mrs. Rose, passed away.*
This week, the city was stunned by the terrible news that Jonathan Scott had also passed away unexpectedly, and that the store would be permanently closed.
The loss of these fine people, in a blink, and the closing of the business they built is already starting to reverberate through our community.
Practitioners of different traditions are wondering where they’ll find supplies. Same story with other spiritual supply stores, F&F having grown to a reliable regional and national distributor.
Closer to home, the loss brings up questions about traditions, cultural authenticity and the ravenous gentrification that have worried us since the policy and engineering failures known as “Katrina.”
Mostly, we are grateful to have had such a wondrous resource in our community, built, rebuilt, and lovingly maintained by this remarkable family.
Wishing peace to all, whatever your path.
About F&F:
broadcommunityconnections.org/…
www.bizneworleans.com/…
americanroutes.wwno.org/...
www.wafb.com/…
*I have been unable to find an obituary for Mrs. Rose. I’ll update this post should I find more information.