“Really all we know is life in the pandemic.”

-Lindsey Magness, on talking about opening a business with her husband Peter Gottschling in June of 2020

It’s a beginning forged in fire—new businesses that have only known a pandemic economy.

Peter Gottschling and Lindsey Magness got married three years ago.


What You Need To Know


And started looking for a place to open their dream business—a coffee and surf shop.

“We’re both “born and raised” Floridians. So it was really just like once we found the spot, we were like, ‘Let's do it, let's go for it.’ We did not expect the pandemic,” Magness.

She left her job as an event planner in January of 2020. They were to open in March.

That turned to post-shutdown June of 2020.

Grove Surf + Coffee opened on St. Pete Beach.

They are surrounded by other small businesses that line the Gulf Blvd.

“I feel like we're all kind of part of the same team in a way, said Gottschling. “It's not so much like competition. It's, hey, we're all kind of like doing the same thing and fighting the same battles every day this year, more so than ever.”

Gottschling says he grew new appreciation for his spouse as a business partner he could trust for feedback on ideas and more.

“I don't think that I realized how important and how nice that would be.”

For a look at how your friends and neighbors are finding their way through Life in The Time of Coronavirus, you can go here.