Clay Street boutique fills niche

At 40 Clay St. a pair of green canvas awnings shade a small storefront. A dress-form mannequin on the front stoop welcomes visitors to the L&G Boutique.

Inside the narrow, 1,200-square-foot space, the boutique is loaded with carefully coordinated displays of men's and women's clothing and accessories. Display fixtures spill with merchandise. Patrons who stop by often do so just to chat and eye the new fashions.

Lonnie Brown and Gloria "Glo" Williams Brown are the proprietors. They own the building and, for two decades from the late 1970s through most of the 90s, Mr. Brown first ran a private billiard club...