Shore to Succeed

A fabulous-looking new St. Armands shop reinvents surf merchandising.

By Carol Tisch

“It’s Palm Springs meets South Beach,” says Tom Leonard, owner of the hip new Shore, a surf shop next door to Foxy Lady on St. Armands Circle. That’s an understatement! Leonard and his wife, Sue have created a prototype for a chain of lifestyle emporiums that do for surf fashion what Abercrombie and Fitch and Brooks Brothers did for the preppy look. “Right now it’s a chain of one,” Leonard quipped as he and architect Ed Eible, president of Architura in Sarasota, walked me through what happens to be one of the best-looking stores this side of – well, anywhere in the country!

Tom Leonard, owner of Shore, left, and Ed Eible, president of Architura, right.

The stuff looked so appealing I can’t wait to go back and shop; and Leonard promises there is even a surf look that’s age-appropriate for Baby Boomers like me – a non-swimmer who’s afraid to tread in water over her knees. In fact there’s something for everyone in this beautifully outfitted and merchandised store, designed by Foundation Design, the Seattle-based company that did the store imaging and theme for Tommy Bahama.

Inside Shore, which is beautifully outfitted and merchandised.

Leonard explained that he and Sue, a graduate of FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York, aren’t taking the typical surf shop merchandising tact, and that’s why it looks so great. “Surf stores merchandise by brand name; we’re not brand-driven,” he explains. Instead, the store is merchandised by product category, color and frankly, by what looks trendy and good together. “When you get dressed in the morning, you don’t pick everything from one company: you mix and match brands and that’s what we’ve done,” Leonard explains. At Shore, customers will find shorts by Billabong and Hurley and more displayed right next to each other, for example. The customer has more choices that way. “We have bathing suits from Billabong and Roxy to Juicy Couture,” Leonard says. He hopes to appeal to everyone in the family from little boys who want to dress like dad, to grandpas who’ve come in with the family and bought shorts and island shirts. The store is upscale, with the hottest brands, yet offers a range of prices so the customer has choices.

Be sure to step back and check out the store exterior. Ed Eible did a fabulous job remodeling the building, and I can’t wait to see what’s planned for the second floor. He says there were three apartments up there when the building was completed more than 40 years ago. “They had been covered over and vendors were using the space for storage,” Eible says. Though the building’s vernacular is correct for the 1960s, it looks clean and crisp in Eible’s renovation. “It’s a great lesson to learn about contemporary design,” the architect said, “It really can be welcoming and comfortable.”

Everything is illuminated: Shore at night.

Tom and Sue Leonard may be new shop owners on the Circle but they are old hands at retailing. Their company, Loveshore LLC based in Winter Park, owns several Tommy’s Island stores on the East Coast of Florida, and the Leonards also created successful golf and children’s retail concepts before moving to Florida. But Shore is the future and direction of the industry, Leonard says. “It’s over the top for a lot of Florida, but Sarasota is sophisticated and that’s why we opened our flagship store here.” The Orlando resident and avid boater should know the market. “We’ve been coming to Sarasota for 15 years, first to Longboat Key and now to Lido Beach. “Smart people go west,” he says he tells his friends on the other side of the state.

Posted: 4/8/2008 9:37:58 AM | 0 comments

Retail Therapy

Shore to Succeed

Post archive