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Open Doors

Busch Transou’s Latest Endeavor Is All About Soul

“Don’t ever be afraid to ask,” Susie Busch Transou once
advised. “You never know what doors will open because of
that. That’s the philosophy that I’ve always taken.”
A direct descendent of Anheuser-Busch cofounder
Adolphus Busch, she first enjoyed much success heading
the brewery’s marketing and hospitality services. For
the past 20+ years, she and husband Tripp have operat-
ed a successful beverage distributorship. More recently
Busch Transou found that answering a question led as a gathering place where people can connect, learn and
to her next business venture: Hearth and Soul, a bou- build relationships. It regularly hosts girls’ night out parties,
tique-cum-community center. She opened an Austin workshops with craftspeople, book signings, culinary tastings,
location in November 2018. yoga and other activities. Individuals and groups can even
What feeds your soul? That question was put to her a rent part or all of the store.
few years ago when she attended a getaway celebration for “Making friends is our business” has long been the
a dear friend’s 50th birthday. Busch Transou didn’t shrug it Busch family motto, and Busch Transou has taken it to
off as some exercise in midlife navel-gazing. She seriously heart—and soul.
pondered the question and her answer. She asked it of her
friends. And kept asking it of herself. Less than a year later, Hearth and Soul is located in Casis Village at 2727 Exposition
in late summer 2015, she opened the first Heart and Soul in Boulevard and at hearthandsoul.com.
her hometown of Tallahassee.
Hearth and Soul is more than an upscale boutique that
offers unique apparel and accessories, home goods, food-
stuffs and other items. It’s an embodiment of what feeds
its founder’s soul: connecting people, solving problems,
learning, building relationships and being surrounded by
classic, simple, meaningful, beautiful things.
Being with family is also soul food for the proprietress.
After her eldest son moved to Austin, she came to love the
city, set up a second home here and decided Tarrytown was STORE PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN PORTER; PORTRAIT COURTESY OF HEARTH AND SOUL
perfect for a second Hearth and Soul.
The store’s design is akin to Busch Transou opening her
home to all comers. Laid out like a house, it has all the rooms
and designated spaces of a house. Each room is appointed
with products befitting its purpose. Fittingly, this house has
no interior doors so visitors feel all the more welcome.
Along with the beautiful, meaningful things Hearth and
Soul sells, it offers another helping of soul food by serving

48 WATERWAYS | February 2019