Shopping in Sarasota is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get. Who would have imagined that one of my all-time favorite stores – the very British-looking (but all-American) Smith & Hawken – was right under my nose with a full-blown garden shop inside the Ace Hardware on Clark Road? 

Or that I’d stumble onto the same decorative gift wrap carried at my other very favorite store, Kate’s Paperie in Greenwich Village? I haven’t seen papers that evoked such pangs of nostalgia anywhere in town – and certainly didn’t expect to find them at a place called (would-you-believe) Persnickity Cat? If you’re in the right place at the right time in Sarasota – and if you believe in magic – shopping serendipity does seem to happen.

I hadn’t been to Ace for several months. They’re the only place in town that carries Lestoil, a cleaning product sold in New York that I can’t live without (I had guests bring me bottles as house gifts until liquids were banned from airplane carry-ons). My beloved Lestoil was in the detergent aisle on the right as you walked in the store – at least the last time I had visited. So my heart sank when I saw the entire department was missing and in its place – who cared? I accosted a sales clerk to see where the detergents were.

It wasn’t until I was at the checkout counter that I looked up and noticed the new Smith & Hawken department (where the Lestoil used to be). While Smith & Hawken makes some items exclusively for Target, the last time I looked they only offered outdoor furniture. Ace has an entire department, shrub clippers, garden gloves, pottery critters and all. For me, it was the maraschino cherry in the chocolate box. I love gardening, but I think it’s because I love the gear even more. Trust me, this is nirvana for gardeners.

Though you can order directly from www.smithandhawken.com, I like to see what I’m buying and I don’t buy anything online that is available in a locally owned store. 

Salespeople tell me the Ace on Stickney is one of three Ace stores in the state with an S&H shop (the closest to Sarasota till now was in Naples). The ambiance isn’t quite the same, and the assortment isn’t as extensive as the totally seductive Smith & Hawken in New York’s Soho, but what the heck – it’s the stuff that matters and the Ace staff (no pun intended) assures me that anything in the catalog can be ordered for delivery, in most cases in a day!