A couple with a background in business has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of the Bermuda Perfumery and the associated brand Lili Fragrances.

The business, founded in 1929 by W.B. Smith, operated out of the Bermuda Perfumery Gardens in Bailey's Bay until earlier this year when the gardens were sold separately to a real estate developer.

The business and three employees has continued to operate part-time out of an east end warehouse, but it was purchased yesterday by The Brackstone Partnership which plans to put the business and its lines back into the retail limelight.

The partnership is made up of French Canadian Isabelle Ramsay- Brackstone and her Bermudian husband Kirby Brackstone. They now own the Bermuda Perfumery's recipes for perfumes, eau de toilette, soap and cologne in 11 Bermuda floral fragrances.

The couple will continue to operate from the warehouse for now, but Mrs. Ramsay-Brackstone has big plans for it in the future.

"We always wanted to have our own business and we wanted to manufacture something. Coming to Bermuda there is not a lot of things being manufactured. I had visited the Perfumery last November when my parents came to visit and I thought it was very interesting," she said. "We don't have a store per say right now but it is coming together. It is part of our short term plans to set up a permanent location, build a lovely laboratory. We don't know if we will be able to recreate the museum type that existed in the perfumery before but we will try to be creative."

Mrs. Ramsay-Brackstone, who actually worked on the business side of Loreal Paris while training for her CA in Canada, says that her first objective is to meet with the owners of existing retail stores who sell the line in Bermuda. She says that the business had really been put on hold since the former owners sold the gardens, but Lili Fragrances maintains a loyal following from both Bermudians and tourists. It is one of the few products that is both manufactured and exported from Bermuda with the Lili Fragrances sold in over 30 locations on island as well as by mail order and through the company's website.

"The perfumery is a symbolic brand of Bermuda that we are very eager to revitalise. It is unfortunate that the fragrances will no longer be manufactured at the gardens but they will still be made in Bermuda by Bermudians," said Mr. Brackstone, president of the Brackstone Partnership."

His wife, however, sees a few changes in the future.

"We want to rejuvenate the brand. We want to rejuvenate eventually its packaging, its clientele, its whole image, These are our goals and we want to export abroad. It is a wonderful way of promoting Bermuda abroad which is what Bermudians do which is Bermuda perfumes."

Mr. Brackstone will continue to work full-time in the treasury department of Butterfield Bank while his wife will be the managing director of the company and deal with its day-to-day operations. She holds a Masters in International Business and used to be an investment banker with JP Morgan Chase. Lately, however, she has been a stay-at-home mom to three children aged 2-and-half months to three years. She says the new business is the perfect for her as she will be able to work flexible hours and still have time to spend with her children.