When stores closed in the spring of 2020, Mari Ann Maher, co-owner and shopkeeper of the Antique and Artisan Gallery in Stamford, Connecticut, quickly pivoted. She posted twice a day on Instagram and added a virtual showroom feature to the website. “The first thing I thought about when the state told us we had to close was that I had to reinvent myself,” Maher says, as she fretted over how her 22,000 square foot gallery could survive without buyers. But to his surprise, social media sales soon outpaced website sales. New Yorkers who fled to Connecticut for more space turned to Maher to furnish their pandemic-era outposts, avoiding long delivery times at furniture retailers. Items to furnish home office setups, lighting, upholstery and even textiles, she says, are still flying off virtual shelves.
