Sherry Latour loves hard work and hard-working people – so much so that she’s made it her life’s mission to empower those just starting out in business, helping them to learn, grow and succeed.

And the sky seems to be the limit for this visionary.

Since purchasing then-named TOP’s Woodwork and Supply in 2009, Latour has changed its moniker to Top’s Appliances and Cabinetry, and under her management, the Lafayette-based company consistently provides quality cabinetry and the best-performing appliances for customers’ budgets. But it was creative marketing and a will to help others that inspired the Lafayette native to utilize some of the ground floor of her two-story building as a hub for start-up businesses, working in tandem with her own consulting company. By investing personal savings and COVID relief money, she created new revenue streams for Top’s, while helping others meet their dreams.

Latour acquired 20-plus years of business experience working her way from accounting to management in the oil and gas industry. The 59-year-old was, for years, the only female manager among 60, working for companies that were looking for the guy who could take customers hunting and fishing. Her expertise was going into businesses, cleaning up operations, and putting practices and procedures in place to help them grow, or to position them better for sale. She spent her last five years in the corporate world, helping a capital investment company merge with other companies and become public. Now she brings that knowledge to entrepreneurs wanting to grow their fledgling companies.

Maker of Dreams

It wasn’t long after the acquisition of Top’s that Latour found herself trying to figure out how to advertise her business. The 64,000 square-foot space, including a product showroom, was her “oyster,” and she envisioned growing it into a business accelerator to help make pearls out of start-ups. “I wanted to get people inside the showroom, so I set up a seating area for 100; I brought in corporate chefs and invited the public in to see what the products were capable of doing,” she says. “You test drive a car. Why not test drive a range?”

The cooking demos became so popular that Latour brought in Daphne Olivier, The Unconventional Dietitian, to provide nutritional counseling and cooking classes, using one of the site’s certified commercial kitchens as the demo space. A collaboration with Chef Boyer Derise started “Good Eats for Good Causes,” a pop-up market event of 18-20 vendors selling their products, for which a non-profit can sell tickets. Derise cooks the food; there is often a silent auction; and the non-profit gets the net proceeds.

All of this, Latour says, is to support the goal of helping small nonprofits – farmers, growers, craft makers, artisans and young entrepreneurs – to take their businesses to the next level and teach them how to raise funds. “We’ll sit around and share our challenges, and resources come up,” she adds.

Always pushing herself to explore what else she can do with her building while Top’s grows, Latour has remodeled an area to create office space for construction-related tenants, including Architectural Windows and Doors, April Guidry Design, and Bryan S. Guidry, Inc. – but also others, like dietitian Daphne Olivier. The store also serves as an e-commerce distribution center for companies like Cajun Crate, a monthly subscription box of non-perishable Louisiana food products, and Cousins Smokehouse, maker of tender pork jerky. Also housed in the building is Charlie and the Peanut Butter Factory, creator of high-protein, low-sugar desserts, which are made in one of the kitchens at Top’s (that can be rented by the hour or day). Another kitchen is utilized by Acadian Slice, making meat and sweet pies.

Latour recognized the need for kitchen space when COVID forced Acadiana Food Hub to close their incubator kitchen, which helps cooks move from a home to commercial kitchen without having to build or lease a facility. Had Latour not provided two more certified commercial kitchens, the closest spaces available for rent were in Baton Rouge.

More Spokes in the Wheel

Another aspect of her entrepreneurial accelerator program came about when Latour began pursuing the idea of an on-site farmers market, working with co-founders of Lafayette North’s Fightingville Fresh Market. As a result, The Market at Tops now offers products from some 20 to 40 vendors each Thursday. “My intent behind a weekday market from 4-7pm was to make it easy for customers to stop on the way home from work and pick up dinner and some produce.” With seasonal produce hard to come by at times, Latour plants edible landscaping in the front of the store, as well as on the back side of the 3.6 acres, and she has a bountiful garden at home.

Top’s has also become a depot for recycling. “We collect all the cardboard, paper and glass from the renters and vendors,” says Latour, adding that she’s even learned to make worm bends. “The owner of Worm Lady Recycles makes worm bends with paper, food scraps and yard debris and creates this amazing compost for sale. So, we’re making a worm bend here.”

A Patron Saint of Sorts

Latour has been referred to as the “patron saint of small businesses,” having so far helped more than 15 businesses by providing resources and a support system. Fearful of stepping on any true saints’ toes, she says, “I’m just passing on the things I learned in big business to these hard-working people who may never have gotten that experience otherwise. They are first-generation entrepreneurs who have not been shown how to start their business,” she says. “They need us and we need them.”

As for the business that started all of this, Latour has been busy, particularly in the appliance area, triaging replacement appliances since Phase 1 of COVID. “I have been supplying appliances for quick replacements for some time. Last year after the hurricanes hit and, before deer season, I had the only freezers available for months,” she recalls.

As to where she sees her enterprise in five years, she predicts, “It will be a self-sustaining ecosystem, creating jobs and growing local business. This business accelerator program will be my biggest accomplishment. Our nation needs successful businesses sharing their structure.”

A Detour with Latour

~ Unusual Hobby: Works on four or five different puzzles at one time – after dumping all the pieces together.

~ Recommended Read: Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

~ Female Role Model: Mary Magdalene

~ Favorite Singer: Andrea Bocelli

~ On Podcast: Grow a Greener World by Joe Lamp’l

~ Little known fact: She doesn’t have a college degree.