From one suit to 12 doors: This Baton Rouge couple buys the block with faith, integrity

What began as a prayer for a single suit has led to a national brand, a 12,900-square-foot business complex, and a model for Black ownership and stewardship. 

In the heat of a Baton Rouge afternoon, a group of boys—third, maybe fourth graders—gravitate toward the front windows of The Master’s Touch, a men’s clothing store. Inside, suits hang in perfect rows: bold plaids, sharp pinstripes, deep navies and maroons under spotlit beams. Pocket squares in regal folds, monk strap shoes in polished repose. The boys take it all in: the way the light catches cufflinks; the way Mr. William Bates, the owner, wears style like it’s stitched into his skin; his car; and his beautiful wife, Mrs. Maria. The boys return throughout the month to see what’s happening in the store.

For the Bateses, their business is a kind of ministry.

William is an executive pastor at Living Faith Christian Center and a businessman. Maria is a nurse and an uncompromising believer in Divine instruction. Together, they are the founders of The Master’s Touch, a thriving haberdashery, and its sister real estate enterprise, Bates Real Estate Inc.

Their journey began with a single suit—and a $499 dilemma—that unlocked the beginning of their faith-filled mission to follow God’s instructions. 

Within a conference room at their newly renovated commercial complex, Maria Bates recalled Christmas 2007, when she wanted to buy an exquisite suit William desired. “As his wife, I always want to spoil him, so I started looking and asking God to help me find it. We had two young children. He was a new pastor and I was new in nursing. We just couldn’t afford a $499 suit,” Maria said. 

A SUIT, A STORE, A WHISPER FROM GOD

Maria searched department stores for the suit to no avail. Ultimately she took the SKU number, scoured the Internet, and found the seller who had the suit at a steep discount, but couldn’t sell it to her without a wholesale license.

“I asked God why did He bring me to this suit and I could not purchase it,” Maria said. Her voice charged with the memory. God instructed her to get a business license and to buy suits and accessories from the manufacturers. “He told me everything to do,” she said, and she wrote the vision in detail, put it in an envelop, and packaged it with a different suit from JCPenney. 

Christmas Day, William opened the envelop, but never wore the suit. 

They agreed to obey God and days later, while driving, William was given The Master’s Touch as the name for the men's store: “It wasn’t Kingdom. It wasn’t secular,” said William, “but it was still Kingdom.”

Between work, family time, and ministry, William sold suits, ties, shoes, and handkerchiefs from their home until it became inundated with inventory, late night fittings, and customer pickups. It was the start of the Great Recession of 2008 and The Master's Touch needed to move.

While driving down Monterrey Drive, Maria had an unmistakable feeling that a shuttered photography studio in a vacant business complex was meant to be theirs. "God told me that was our store," she admitted. With that conviction she hunted the internet until she found the landlord: Mr. Larry K. Sullivan. The space was dilapidated and, although he agreed to rent it, he would not make renovations. The Bateses cleaned the place with their own hands. Gutted floors. Painted the walls. William studied build-outs, lighting, and store layouts. They purchased racks, lighting, and moved inventory. They used $50,000 personal credit cards and their income; then, Maria found an online bank who offered a $25,000 unsecured line of credit which they repaid just before that bank closed under the weight of the recession. They redesigned the store with the kind of excellence that made people stop mid-step. 

On Black Friday 2008, they opened The Master’s Touch at 3052 Monterrey Dr., with no sign, no fanfare, no ribbon cutting. Just lights on, the door open. By chance, their first customer walked in and purchased more than $1,000 worth of merchandise. Maria said she cried. “Because standing before me was the presence of the manifestation of what God had told us,” she said.

Without formal retail training and having nothing but faith and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, William said he studied Jos. A. Bank’sSEC filings and mirrored their promotions. Maria continued working full-time as a nurse while managing the backend administration needs of the suit store. 

“We were standing in what was written on a piece of paper,” said William. 

In 2011, Maria found a small business program at Southern University College of Business which assisted her in preparing a business plan with financial projections. Paperwork they would need months later to secure a $50,000 line of credit from Hancock Whitney Bank. “That was game changing. No longer were we relying on our personal credit cards,” William explained, but their home was tied into the secured part of the 5-year loan. “We had never been in business on this level,” he admitted. 

With four employees, mounting expenses, and slow sales, they became overwhelmed. William said he stood outside of the story and declared, “Okay, God, you told us to do this. Where are the people? Where’s the money. I had tears coming down my eyes. And God said to me, ‘Shut up. Open your eyes. You’re crying over a suit store, but I’m trying to give you a strip mall.’”  From that moment 11 years ago, he paid the rent, saying, "Mr. Sullivan, I want you to know. I’m going to buy this complex, but I don’t have the money.”

When floods hit Baton Rouge in 2016, Living Faith was submerged. The Bates' home was damaged. Many customers lost everything. But the store was elevated just enough to stay dry. Their inventory survived. William called national vendors who helped The Master Touch distribute garments worth hundreds of dollars without hesitation. “We gave it all away,” William said. “No profit. Just community.” 

A year later, The Master's Touch was named 225 Magazine’s Best Men's Clothing Store, surpassing big-box giants and changing perceptions in the process.

During the COVID quarantine in 2020, William went live on Facebook to pray for business owners, to pray against COVID, and to prophesy. Then, The Bates decided to move an idea from In Living Color's "The Homeboy Shopping Network." They pulled out inventory from their truck, setup mannequins, and sold suits and ties on Facebook live. “The mannequins were standing up like employees. They were ready to work,” Maria joked. 

Because suppliers were impacted by low sales due to COVID, William was able to negotiate “the very best prices” for The Master's Touch.  In three months, they sold 150 custom suits a feat they have not amassed in that time frame since. “Sometimes when God puts an anointing on something or given you grace, it is just for that time period.” William explained.

That anointed time returned when the Master’s Touch became the first business to do a N.I.L. deal with Southern University—giving four football players custom suits, Christian Louboutin shoes, and stipends.

Despite their success, others would try to encourage them to relocate the clothier, saying, “Put it in Town Center. Put it in Perkins Rowe. It doesn’t fit.” To that, he explained, “What (they) don’t see are those little kids who come by from the neighborhood.”

“From day one, it was imperative for us to be integrious,” said Maria, now a nurse director for seven parishes.

Like many Black entrepreneurs, the Bateses came of age in neighborhoods where commerce rarely looked like ownership. Liquor stores, payday lenders, fast-food chains. Rarely a deed in a neighbor’s name. Rarely a building that could be passed down.

BUYING THE BLOCK

Fast forward to December 2022. Bates Real Estate Inc. purchased the business plaza: 12,989 square feet, 1.2 acres of land, five existing tenants, and seven empty commercial units. With a half a million dollar commercial loan and owner-financing, the Park Forest Business Plaza was their first real estate deal and their first commercial holding. They invested another $80,000 in electrical rewiring and infrastructure upgrades across the entire complex, including new AC systems, doors, windows, ceilings, floors, and outdoor lighting. 

Between structural upgrades, environmental surveys, architectural plans, and city board approvals (including a 10-year property tax lock), every technical hurdle was met—often with the help of business development programs. They leveraged a city grant for underground surveys and environmental panels—saving what would’ve been tens of thousands of dollars.

“Most folks start with a house. Maybe a duplex,” William said. “We started with 12 doors...“We felt like God would fill this space up." 

Today, 31 months later, those 12 units are full. Not with predatory lenders, but with community-facing businesses: Vina Nail Salon, AA Tax Services, House of Fades Barbershop, Bluebird Massage Studio, Beautiful Music Productions, Sophistoladies boutique, a Chosen Financial--a Prudential firm offering investments and insurance, Knot Just Hair Beauty Parlor,  The Blooming Aesthetics Bar, even a late-night comfort food spot, Midnight Munchies. And of course, the flagship: The Master’s Touch. 

The plaza itself is a case study in quiet transformation. They replaced desolation with development. Maria explained how businesses like payday loans, predatory lenders, and liquor stores suppress the community, especially one that is 77% Black like Park Forest. “The beautiful thing is that because we live in this community, we are concerned about the value that we bring,” William said.

“When you own the block, you get to decide what goes in it. That’s power. That’s stewardship.” Williams said, and he has turned down prospective tenants who didn’t align with the vision. On one occasion a representative from a white-owned property firm scouted a unit. On a phone call, she referred to men working nearby as "thugs." William said he interrupted her call, saying, “Those people are not thugs…Those are men. Those are Black men. They’re not thugs. You nor your (partners) can rent here."

He also turned down a hookah lounge because of the young boys who come to visit. “They already have enough of that in their houses—alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, PCP, and opioids. They don’t need to come over here and get that.” There is a quiet fierceness in how he said it. A sense that this work—Black ownership, community-centered development, economic dignity—is sacred.

BUILDING A LEGACY

The roots of the Bates' story trace back to Southern University in 1992, where they met as political science major from Chicago and a nursing major from Detroit. They married in 1994. Along with The Master's Touch, they now have a national brand offering bespoke, dapper suits under their private stitch-by-stitche label with fabrics sourced from across the globe. William Bates’s style at the Master’s Touch was featured in a USA TODAY LIFE Facebook post, “Black dandyism celebrated as fashion innovation,” following this year's Met Gala.

“We started with nothing. We didn’t even have a savings account," said Maria. We worked everyday and we paid our bills with the entirety of what we made every two weeks. There was no trust. No legacy. Nothing that would have set us up for the things that God had set up for us,” Maria said. 

At 53, the Bateses are grandparents and parents of two adults who they see their real estate portfolio as belonging to wider lineage. “This is also for every business owner here and their families,” William said. 

“My husband and I pray for their success. We want to give them what they need to succeed,” said Maria.

Their greatest asset lies in the quiet intersection of matrimony and ministry. “I’m his favor and he is my Lord,” Maria said. Together, they’ve learned to compartmentalize: preacher, nurse, spouse, parent, entrepreneur, landlord—each role balanced with grace. “We want others to know that they can rise above all the negative. There is a place for their thoughts and their ideas to transform any area. Sometimes people need to see it in demonstration,” William said.

After 32 years, their story stands as a testimony of obedience to God that shows others that faith with works is transformative.“People need to hear that they’re not crazy for believing. I want them to see us and know they can have it, too,” Maria said. There is a gravity to her tone, the kind that anchors testimony. “If the Lord said do it, we did it."

ONLINE: The Master's Touch

By Candace J. Semien
Jozef Syndicate reporter
@jozefsyndciate