New Haven Independent: Mourned "Yuppy" Owner Re-Fashioned The City

Mourned “Yuppy” Owner Re-Fashioned The City

by Melissa Bailey | June 8, 2007 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

As Ricardo “Reno” Beamon was buried Friday, one mourner had this to say about the young man who turned his life around to become a styling downtown entrepreneur: “He changed the dressing game in New Haven.”

Ricardo “Reno” Beamon, 28, was shot to death on June 2 outside the Yuppie Boutique, the upscale clothing store he co-founded after leaving behind a life of drug dealing and prison. Police are still investigating the murder.

To the friends and relatives who gathered at the St. Matthews Church on Dixwell Avenue, “Reno” was a “leader,” a “positive man” with a “rock star” sense of style.

“He changed the dressing game in New Haven,” said his friend, Qiyon Reed. “No more baggy pants or hoodies.”

“He had some brands even I couldn’t afford,” chimed in Anthony Wilson (pictured below at right). “He probably would’ve come out with his own clothing line if they’d have given him time. He was a real jazzy cat, a real jazzy cat.”

Wilson was working at his job at a city hospital when his friend rolled in on a stretcher Saturday night. “That tore my whole day apart,” he said, shaking his head. “The streets lost a good guy. I take [the shooting] as jealousy — people don’t want to see someone come from nothing and make it.”

Kia Smedley Reed (pictured at left) fondly remembered how her cousin used to “party like a rock star.” “He was a lot of fun.”

Ricardo Beamon, who grew up in the Dwight-Kensington area of town, left behind five siblings and a 2-year-old daughter, Sheila.

An emotional service was pierced with cries of “Hallelujah!” from women in his family. Ricardo Beamon lay still in a dapper white suit, his hands resting on a box filled with his late mother’s ashes.

Before preaching a message of self-examination, Bishop Dozier Shields spoke lovingly of the young man and their encounter on Chapel Street one day. “He told me, ‘Bishop, I want you to come in the store. I want to dress you from head to toe.’” Shields, flattered, smiled and declined. “I don’t think they’d be too pleased if a Yuppy Boutique bishop stepped out” on the street.

As the crowd filed past Beamon’s casket for a final farewell, Shields called for the crowd to look to Jesus for their “anchor” in this time of grief. Eleven men bore the casket out the door, onto a horse-drawn carriage.

“This was senseless, man!” said “Uncle Ed,” aka Edward Beamon, surrounded by supporters outside the Baptist church. “My nephew was a great kid. I’ve been with him every day of his life. I was there at the store every other day. I wasn’t there for my shift that day. I should have been there.”

Jimarie Rivera (pictured) stood by a tree, wiping tears from behind her sunglasses. “He was like my big brother,” she said. She knew him ever since she was five, growing up in Dwight-Kensington.

Of his fashion sense, Rivera said: “He used to wear the craziest stuff. If he had to make a shirt out of a towel, he would make it, just to be different. He was one of a kind.”

“I’m going to miss that smile he always gave, no matter what was going on.”

Comments

Posted by: John Dwight | June 8, 2007 9:35 PM

God Bless the Beamon family and their friends. I had the pleasure of meeting (i)Reno(/i) after a friend suggested I try his store, knowing I was a fashion freak.

Ricardo was warm, friendly, smart, funny, hip, sly and wry; someone who richly deserved the success he was beginning to enjoy.

The service was a dignified response to a heinous, senseless act. I came to show my respect for this young man, his family, and his community.

Posted by: robn | June 9, 2007 8:31 AM

This guy turned his life around and became an downtown entreprenuer. He was one of us. This is just a damn shame.

Posted by: Edward_H | June 9, 2007 6:08 PM

My condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Beamon.

Posted by: andy ross | June 12, 2007 5:57 PM

It is tragic when promising young people die regardless of the circumstance but especially violently. 28 years old having already been through his share of trouble and turned his life around. What a shame. I live two blocks from his store and was shaken to have learned of yet another violent act our streets. What ever it takes the violence has to stop. I offer my sincere condolences to the family

Posted by: Jhonathan Rivera | June 13, 2007 9:09 AM

My Condolences to the Family. I've know Ric "Reno" and his cousins for quiet a while and it is really a shame to see someone that good go away. May God be with you all.

Posted by: Abnisha | June 14, 2007 9:43 AM

My heart goes out to the Beamon family and especially his 2 year old daughter.....I didn't personally know him but I've been in the store a few times with my babyfather and he loved to dress in that kind of gear he to was recently taken away from myself and his two year old son on May 3rd and I send my comfort and condolences to the family and his baby mother and I want to tell her whoever she is to be strong for her baby I've been there and actually I'm still there it's only been a month since my son father passed away and in time the pain will heal!!!He may have passed on to another life but he has left her with a piece of him!!!May God Bless you all and have faith in the lord!!!

Posted by: Alonte Bagley | June 16, 2007 6:36 PM

Reno Was My God-Mothers Cousin I Knew Him Since I Was A Baby And I Really Miss Him..
By Alonte Bagley

Posted by: Nakia N. Dawson | June 21, 2007 4:13 PM

To the Beamon Family and the Owners of Yuppy,
Ricky is gone from this place but he is not gone from our hearts,I will never forget Ricky and I both falling at stop & shop while running fast towards each other to give one another a hug or walking in the halls of CO-OP hearing hey Nakia and my responds was hey Ricardo, as for Lamar, Tim and John keep your heads up and keep doing the best that you can at the store he would want you guys to, it will be hard but put it in gods hands and it will work it's self out!

Love
Nakia N. Dawson (Nikki)

Posted by: dondre greene | June 22, 2007 8:21 PM

RENO WAS MY OLDER COUSIN I FOUND OUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED I WAS SAD I REMEMBER ME AND RENO IN MY LIVING ROOM ONE NIGHT IT WAS ME AND MY UNCLE TIM,MY MOM,RENO,AND ME AND RENO AND I ARE PLAYING WITH MY DART GUNS AND THAT WAS THE LAST MOMENT I SHARED WITH MY COUSIN RENO .THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL I WAS SO SCARED IT WAS SO HARD TO SE MY COUSIN LAY IN A COFFIN WHY CAUSE SOME 'LAZY LIL SCARED PUNK WANTED SOMETHING OF RICKYS .GOD FORGIVE ME I HOPE SOMEONE TURNS HIM INTO A SENORRITA

Posted by: Marie Heggie | June 25, 2007 10:19 AM

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. We don't want to accept that God does not make mistakes, we do. I encouage you to trust God in all that you do. Remember the good,the time shared with the ones he loved but also remember that he was only given to us for a season. Keep your head up and know that In the circumstances that you have and will in counter God is with you.

Posted by: Ed Beamon | July 16, 2007 1:20 PM

The box in his hands was not a box of cigars, but in fact the ashes of his late mother.

New Haven Independent

Mourned “Yuppy” Owner Re-Fashioned The City

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