Stefani lends support with donations

FASHION STATEMENT: Deco Moda's Stefani Spasevski is donating to those not so lucky in the floods. Picture: David Kapernick Source: The Courier-Mail

However when floodwaters began rising in Milton, she knew it would be a hard slog ahead and had to move fast to ensure her Deco Moda fashion boutique and coffee lounge survived.

Her rush to get stock and equipment out of harm's way was because the business was uninsured. She had tried many times to get insurance but no one would offer it for the area she was in.

"We moved all the stock upstairs and kept coming back to check where the water had reached," she said. "If it had peaked at the 5m mark that they expected, we would have gone under."

Ms Spasevski considers herself lucky floodwaters didn't rise above the stairs leading to her shop. Her relief quickly turned to a deep empathy for other businesses and people who were not so lucky.

"I decided to not just have a 30 per cent-off January sale, but to also offer 10 per cent of what we sell over the next few weeks to the Premier's Flood Appeal," she said.

Ms Spasevski has been churning out fashion and coffee for three years at the bottom of Park Rd and has never seen it so quiet since reopening.

"As you can understand, since reopening after the flood, it's been dead. Our customers have been affected. It will take a couple of months to get back on track," she said.

Also on hold for the moment, she said, are plans to launch a website to market Deco Modo. "We still need to do it, but now's not the right time,'' she said.