In order to get the extra square footage she wants for her business, Payton Pitts is going to have to talk to her landlords.
That shouldn’t be a deal breaker, though, because the landlords are Hank and Anna Pitts — her parents and owners of Hank’s Carpet.
“I really want more rug racks, so I’ll just sweet talk my dad and get more space,” says a smiling Payton, who’s owned and run her boutique, Lola Pate, from the middle of her parents’ Tunnel Hill, Georgia, showroom since mid-2019.
“In college, I had no interest in doing anything for the store,” she says. “Then, the older I got, I saw how special, how rare it is to have a family business.
“So I loved the idea of being part of the family business, but I still wanted to do my own thing. Now I have my own little space, and that creative side of me, and I’m excited to harness that,” she adds.
Payton says that in naming her store, she sought to combine her sense of self with an homage to family traditions.
“My friends call me Pate,” she explains. “And ‘Lola’ means ‘grandmother’ in Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines, where my mom’s family comes from. ‘Lola’ is actually a tribute to my mom’s grandmother.
“So I’m blending that family history with the tradition of my dad’s family business, which opened in 1982,” she says.
Payton says she got heavily into photography while an undergrad at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga — so much so that she was a full-time professional photographer for about a year after graduating from UTC.
But as the notion of joining the family business grew more appealing, she decided to leave photography behind and opened Lola Pate in 2019. She began by offering area rugs and home decor — and learned a tough lesson early on.
Photography by Bob Gary / A selection of products available at Lola Pate.“I was picking rugs I loved,” she recalls. “My dad told me I had to get over that, because I was expecting everyone else to love what I loved. He said, ‘You’ve got to pick what sells.'”
Payton says that she decided in early 2023 to change course, shifting from home decor to apparel.
“I guess I expected I would do more in home decor,” she says. “But one of the greatest things I’ve learned is that it’s okay to change your mind. I never expected to be selling Lola Pate hats and t-shirts — my own brand apparel.
“I saw a girl the other day — a girl I didn’t know — wearing a Lola Pate hat. That was neat, kind of a surreal moment,” she says.
As for the future, Payton says that, in addition to working her dad for more space, she wants to “refine the craft — find what works, and pivot that way.” She’s quick to add, though, that she’s unlikely to pivot toward Chattanooga.
“People have asked me so often when I’m going to open in Chattanooga,” she says. “It sounds cool, but I have such a strong sense to be here, surrounded by family, and it wouldn’t have the same heart and meaning if I were located somewhere else.
“Learning the business from my dad, but growing and making my own space, has been really special,” Payton says. “I wouldn’t want to take Lola Pate away from that.”