KENOSHA, Wis. — B&L Office Furniture has bounced back since it was burned to the ground during the unrest of 2020 in Kenosha.

What You Need To Know

  • B&L Office Furniture was destroyed in unrest of 2020 in Kenosha

  • The unrest began after the police shooting of Jacob Blake

  • B&L Office Furniture found a new location on 52nd St.

  • Owner of business attributes community and insurance company for bounce back

Scott Carpenter recalls when the protests began after the police shooting of Jacob Blake that he closed his business early to stay out of the way

He said he then found a live video of someone burning down that business, B&L Office Furniture. It made him feel hopeless.

“There was nothing you could do about it, like you just lost everything,” said Carpenter. “The next morning, I got up and was taking a shower and got dressed and my wife goes ‘where are you going? You don’t have work to go to.’ I say I gotta see what happened.”

For Carpenter, that also meant talking to his insurance company and law enforcement. However, he already knew the location where his business had operated from was a complete loss.

“It was like, you just got kicked in the gut and that’s about it,” said Carpenter. “You don’t know what to do next, but you know you gotta go forward. There are steps to take, so that was a really tough time.”

Over the next few months, Carpenter said they continued to operate out of a warehouse they rented and worked from home

Then an opportunity arose for a new home on 5403 52nd St. in Kenosha.

“We came across this building that happened to be up for sale that we looked at 17 years ago and it happened to be available so we purchased it,” said Carpenter.

They opened their new location in the fall of last year.

Carpenter said the community and his insurance company were the main reasons B&L Office Furniture was able to rebuild the business.

“You really saw people reach out and say we need to support our local businesses,” said Carpenter. “These are people that are just working a job. Just because you are a local business owner doesn’t mean you are a wealthy tycoon. You could lose it at any moment and have to start all over, but thank you to the local community for reaching out.”

Carpenter believes it also took determination to not allow their previous location going up flames to hold them down. He said they wanted to continue supporting themselves and their community and look forward to many more years of doing just that.