Magazine May 19

Summer 2009

LS1

localshops1.com

Find out all about the Web site that’s helping local businesses thrive despite the recession. Find out how you can become a part of the LocalShops1 movement...

Intensity Academy See how a home-made sauce became a nationally awarded company with its original recipes!

Gold Parties By the

“The Gold Lady” Need extra cash?

The Gold Lady Jackie Simpson can help:! She will buy your unwanted, broken, mangled gold jewelry.

...And if you host a party at your home, you’ll get paid!

Gold Parties By the “The Gold Lady” 14820 Rue De Bayonne 33762 Tampa Bay Phone: 800-900-9800

W

e are so happy to introduce you to the first localshops1.com magazine!

We hope that you, sitting in a waiting room, having lunch in a local, independently owned store, enjoy reading a little bit of some of the over 700 businesses listed in our Web site. And we want you to know how much you mean to them, how you make a difference. An article at the St. Petersburg Times last March mentioned that at least 15 small businesses and restaurants in St. Petersburg have closed within a year, during the economic downturn. With so many ownership switching hands or closing, we see how creativity has been more necessary than ever to get shopper’s attention. It’s your money, and your choice where to spend it. We are not saying “Don’t buy at big chains!” Many times there is no choice or you might prefer to. Yes, you you might run into us at Publix or Target. What we want to show you is the creativity, beauty and uniqueness that Indies have! And we want to show you that shopping at independents can be quite affordable. That’s why we have forums on the site, where businesses— and shoppers — can list specials, for free. Let us know your findings and favorite shops by writing reviews about a shop listed or by listing a shop that you love.

That’s how you can help us become an even more comprehensive site for independent businesses and shoppers. In our first magazine edition, we’re featuring Michelle Northrup, owner of Intensity Academy. Her story is truly an inspirational one. She started her company just two years ago, and she’s already received 21 national awards. Northrup these days is busy not only creating hot sauces, but also teaching other independents how to market themselves. And localshops1.com will alwayslet you know when, where and how to participate of such events. We hope to see you at localshops1.com. It’s free to browse, free to register, free to get listed. Help us reinvent our neighborhoods, one store at a time.

Marisa Barbosa

LS1

localshops1.com

LocalShops1.com won a $250,000 marketing package!

We

are working with Teasdale Worldwide and will be in Tampa Tribune, WFLA 1040, Tampa Bay business Journal, TBO.com, Tampa Bay Magazine and TBO.com! This is a great opportunity for all independent businesses in Tampa Bay!

s t n e t n o c

Ester’s Letter, page14

LS1 Magazine - localshops1.com Marisa Barbosa: Writer, photographer, designer and localshops1.com intern. Xiao Peng Wang: Creative Director Sara Romero: contributing writer and localshops1.com. Ester Venouziou: localshops1.com founder.

Working in her kids’ school garden, Michele Northrup found the perfect natural sweetener for the hot sauce —the carrot! Than she started her own company,

Intensity Academy

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bout 4:30 pm on March 19, Michele Northrup’s Facebook status says: “Finishing the final details on the Chai Curry Chup!!! Can’t wait for it to be

released.” Later she posts: “In honor of the upcoming release of Chai Curry Chup’ offering my Facebook special. Any 5 bottles for only $20!!! Just send me an Inbox Message w/ your choice 5.” That’s how Northrup, founder of the Intensity Academy, has been marketing her products lately. Spending one hour a day on the social network websites Facebook and Twiter, for the last six months her pepper sauce sales quadrupled. “What I like about Facebook and Twitter is that you choose to be part of a network, you are not imposing on someone to buy your product,” Northrup said. It all started with the vegetable of the week at her three 11-year-old boys’ school. Northrup came up with a carrot based habanero hot sauce approved by her kids, husband, school parents and friends. “Everyone loved it,” she said. After researching the market around North Tampa, Northrup realized no one offered sauces like the ones she created: they are carrot based (no water based) and made with all natural and fresh from Florida ingredients. Intensity Academy was launched during the same year Northrup was running for the title of Guv’na of Lutz Civic Association, where the candidate that raises more money for the association’s non-profits organizations takes the title. Since then, her company has been linked with a special marketing to charity. “I don’t pay for advertising, instead, I donate to charity,” Northrup is proud to say. In 23 months of business, these local home-made sauces received 21 national awards, including the Scovie Award for best condiment with the Chai Chipotle Chup, a sauce that she

Michele Northrup shows off her products and the trophy from the 2008 Fiery Food Challenge. Intensity Academy received first place under “condiments.” added organic chai tea instead of water. Intensity Academy products were just approved to be on the shelves of every Whole Foods of the State of Florida, the first big company to take them over. Still, the only “staff” of Intensity Academy is Northrup and her husband, Tom Was. They develop the recipes at home then take to a bottler company in Clearwater, never exceeding 100 gallons per production to keep the flavor and freshness.

Where you can find Intensity Academy products: Facebook, Twiter (look for Michele Northrup); intensityacademy.com Whole Foods statewide

A family owned and opperated business in Gulfport that offers full-service landscape and gardening center, fresh produce and locally made honey.

B

By SARA ROMERO LocalShops1.com intern anyan Scapes is a beautiful, full-service landscape design and gardening center on 49th Street South, in the Gulfport-St. Petersburg

border. Owners Stefan and Lissa Kaschkadayev offer landscape services, including maintenance and installation, and offer a huge selection of plants, pots and accessories in their garden center. And of course, all the products you need to have the best yard in the neighborhood. We talked with Lissa about their business, products and services. And she gave us lots of tips, too, especially targeted for Florida gardeners and property owners, so you’ll definitely want to keep reading. Banyan Scapes isn’t the couple’s first business venture. Lissa and Stefan operated a landscaping business called Rotheman’s, in Rochester, N.Y., since 1989. In 2001, they closed Rotheman’s and moved to Florida for a better climate. After taking a little time off from landscaping, the couple opened Banyan Scapes, which has been operating for the past six years here in Florida. Banyan Scapes services residential and commercial properties. The couple handles most operations and have employees to help out in their rapidly expanding business. Stefan is in charge of selling jobs, overseeing landscaping projects, and maintenance; Lissa runs the store and does most of the landscape design. When Lissa and Stefan met, he already had his landscaping business. Lissa joined him in his work. It was a perfect match: With her background in art, she was able to take the landscaping to a new level. After moving together to Florida, Lissa and Stefan enrolled in courses at PTEC to improve their business, and they studied Florida plants to gain better expertise on the unique conditions of the local climate and their customers’ needs. This has been

The garden center has a large selection of plants, pots and acessories. very helpful in selecting what products to sell in the nursery and also on giving recommendations to customers. We asked Lissa for tips to help us -- and our gardens -- survive this tough drought. She explained that she tries to educate customers on how much water they truly need to water their lawns. Many people err in leaving their sprinklers on a timer and walking away, rather than monitoring how long they are running. Not only does this overuse scarce water, it also does damage to the lawn. “Lawns only need about an inch of water,” Lissa says. When grass is overwatered, the roots get used to getting all this extra water, so they don’t grow deep enough. That’s not healthy, she says. Lissa tells people to water less often. Ideally, water just enough to cover the root base And be sure to use a nutracoat fertilizer, which is available in the Banyan Scapes garden center.

Lissa also recommends buying native Florida plants, which can tolerate our weather better. Lissa and Stefan are both very knowledgeable and eager to help in any gardeners’ or property owners’ needs. Their nursery offers a huge selection of plants, flowers, gardening tools, accessories and special products to keep lawns healthy and make it through the drought. Their creativity and expertise can help anyone beautify their residential or commercial property.

Banyan Scapes 932 49th St., Gulfport 727.323.5484 banyanscapes.com

By MARISA BARBOSA SARA ROMERO contributed LocalShops1.com interns

F

or us, shopping at consignments always brings nice surprises. Now making a living out a consignment, that’s an art!

These days, more and more people want to shop at consignment shops, but might not know where to go. So we thought we’d make the hunt easier for you by going around town to check them out, and reporting our finds back to you.

At Fantastic Clothing & Much More, Gulfport, you can find items at a price range that goes from $1 to $25

CoCo’s Couture for Designer Consignment (1614 Central Ave St. Peters-

on them! “I’d rather have less but good quality,” she sayd. Besides ballroom dancewear, CoCo’s Couture offers consignment women’s clothing on brands including BCBG, Escada, Ann Taylor and Liz Claiborne. Almost half the clothes in the store still have their original price tags on them, so you can see you’re getting brand new styles, but at lower prices. On a recent visit, for example, we found a $98 Ann Taylor skirt on sale for just $45. We saw another outfit, originally priced at $400, on sale for ... $36! Desbaillets’ store is right next to her accounting business, where she provides services to small business owners.

Designers Consigner

retail for brands including Channel. We found a Dolce & Gabbana jacket (with an original tag price of $1,800) for just $599. Except for some brands, prices automatically drop after an item is in the store one or two months. The owners have good practice in finding out if a Louis Vuitton bag is real, fake, or if it’s a good imitation or bad, so prices vary accordingly. One that’s tough to know if it’s real is Prada, says owner Julie Karikas, who also owns Designer Exchange, on 7038 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. (why is prada hard to tell?) Consignment at Designers’ Consigner has a 90-day period and a split 50/50% after the item was sold. The consigner can get cash or store credit. They recommend dry cleaning or pressing clothes before consigning.

burg - www.CoCosCouture.biz Tel:7272897122) One of the area’s most exclusive consignment stores. Anette Desbaillets opened her store six months ago, after running a home-based Internet business selling ballroom dancewear. Why? She figured having a store was better than having people come to her home all the time! Desbaillets is a ballroom dancer and really knows design. She knows the needs for lighter fabrics and models for a better performance. The handmade ballroom gowns here are most unique. The selection isn’t huge, but it’s certainly impressive. Some even have Swarovski crystals

(1033 Central Ave St. Petersburg Phone: 727-894-3326) Designers’ Consigner is strict in which brands it accepts, but it still has a huge selection, from causal to formal. The store opened 16 years ago and has built a loyal following of shoppers and consigners, so there’s always new merchandise coming and going. They accept brands from Ann Taylor and up. No Target here. Gap or Old Navy is acceptable sometimes, depending on the item. The recession has actually helped the store. People who before never shopped at consignments are starting to show up, because they can find the same high-end brands they’re used to. The prices at Designers’ Consigner are a third, sometimes even just half, of

FANTASTIC CLOTHING & MUCH MORE 1305 49th St. S 33711 Gulfport Phone: 727-557-8434 Is a great place if you are looking for low prices. Owner Lucia Gammage is from Haiti and offers everything from dress clothes to casual, for women, men, children. There are also household goods. Everything sells for $1 to $25. Gammage has a great collection, thanks in part to her family in New York: they send her things from consignment shops there!

Spinderella’s Steals-ResaleBoutique (6393 Ninth

Street N., St. Petersburg 727522-3325) Jennifer Steele opened Spinderella’s in October 2007. The resale boutique sells only quality items in great condition. The store offers mostly clothing, but also handbags, shoes, jewellery, candles, soaps and belts. Steele says she opened the boutique because, as a single mom, she would shop at consignment and thrift stores and thought prices sometimes were too high. She saw the need for a boutique that sells stylish, good-quality clothes at affordable prices. To consign at Spinderella’s, bring your gently used items. Steele will look them over, decide what she can accept and figure out what she’d sell them for. Customer/consigner gets half of the value in store credit. Spinerella’s carries some of the trendiest brands, including Lucky, Old Navy, Lily, Ann Taylor, Gap, Banana Republic, and anything Steele thinks looks good, from department stores to big brands. We recently found a $300 Robert Rodriguez dress on sale for $60.

Sequins and Denim After being in Downtown St. Pete for 8 years, Sequins and Denim or “a fashionista’s playhouse,” had to move and will reopen soon on 4th Street and 10th Ave. The store has been family owned and operated for 21 years. Sequins and Denim is specialized in Vintage clothing but offers also different styles, and not only clothing but handbags and other accessories, “If it’s a good piece I’ll keep it on the shop,” said owner Shannon West. It all started in Atlanta, where Shannon West’s mother lived and gained the taste for vintage clothing. “She always had the best outfits and wanted to have her own business,” said West, “then she moved to Florida and opened it in the Tyrone area.” Today West runs the shop with the help of her daughter Ashley Smith, 21, third generation involved with the shop. To consign clothes at Sequins and Denim, bring your new item or vintage in good condition for a 90 day period policy. The shop keeps 50% of whatever is sold, and what is left goes to CASA.

Ollie’s Treehouse Children’s Resale Shop 7925 Fourth St. N 33702 Saint Petersburg 727-329-9543 www.olliestreehouse.com

Ollie’s Treehouse Children’s Resale Shop is the little pink house on Fourth Street. The resale shop for children has toys, gear and clothing in sizes newborn to 14. Sandi Grebe runs the shop with her daughter Tricia Schmitz and has been in the location for one and a half years. Ollies pays cash for items. Many items generally sell for a third of what it would retail for. A $150 stroller, for example, would sell for $50. The consigner (person who brought in the stroller) gets half of that, or $25.

I

By Ester Venouziou, LocalShops1.com founder love to shop. I grew up in Brazil, and some of my favorite memories have to do with shopping, mostly with my grandmother and my sister, on Saturday mornings. We’d go to the produce market, chat with the vendors as we picked up fruits and veggies. Then it was off to a meat market, or to the fish guy. Along the way we usually stopped at the newsstand, where my grandmother picked up the daily paper and maybe a magazine or two, and, if my sister and I had had a good week, we ’d be rewarded with some comic books. Eventually we’d end up at my parents’ shop: Importadora Jenny, a fabric store named after my mom. I was about 8 or 9 then, and I remember sitting behind the counter, helping wrap up purchases, talking with the customers. We moved to New Jersey when I was 12, and that all changed. For the next 15 years or so, shopping meant going to the mall or to the big-box stores. I remember, when I lived in Jacksonville in the mid-1990s every Tuesday was my shopping day. Winn-Dixie and Target and Stein Mart were the regular stops. And then there was the mall. There were two pretty close to where I lived, and I’d go to one one week, the other the next. I don’t know why I even bothered to alternate, because they both had pretty much the same stores. Every week, I’d

come home with bags full of things I didn’t need, things I couldn’t afford. What was in those bags I can’t remember. All I know is that shopping had stopped being fun. There are many reasons to shop at locally owned, independent places. Studies show that money spent locally, at an indie, is more likely to stay local. On a typical November shopping day, the Tampa Independence Business Alliance reports, if all taxable purchases in Hillsborough County were made at locally owned independent businesses instead of national chains, it wo uld make a $28 million dollar difference to the local economy. Economics aside, supporting the independents also helps preserve the businesses that link us to the past, the businesses that ensure our communities will retain charm and character to the future. And shopping at independents is just a lot more fun. We launched LocalShops1.com in August 2008. We are a small, grassroots group, dedicate to helping promote independent businesses. It’s always free to browse, free to join and free to get listed. We’re not saying, never shop at the chains or franchises. We’re simply saying, think before you shop. There are times when shopping at those places makes sense, and yes, you might run into us at

Publix or Target sometimes. We just want to make it easier for people to find their options, so they don’t automatically default to the big-box stores or the malls. Our goal is to build a network of indie business owners and indie-minded shoppers, and we’re doing that through our Web site, of course, but also by co-hosting neighborhood parties/fundraisers and marketing/business seminars. Former radio jock-turned comedian Pat Largo has been an integral part in all this, as our official spokesman and party host. We believe in working together with the media, as well as other business and neighborhood groups, to help our local businesses thrive. We’re all in this together.

LocalShops1.com is a division of Local Shopper, LLC. We are a grassroots group committed to promoting locally owned, independent shops. We’re starting out in west-central Florida, and our goal is to be the nation’s premier directory of independents. We launched in August 2008 and, with more than 700 businesses, already are the most comprehensive network of its kind in the area. We’ve been featured all over the news, including the St. Petersburg Times, BayNews9, Bradenton Herald, Beach Life, Gabber, 10Connects, WMNF, Times’ Deal Divas, Creative Loafing blog.

...a business owner Get listed: We offer free listings, including link back to your Web site. Upgraded memberships include photos and lots of other perks. Join our forums. List special sales and discounts, or share your expertise. Network online. Our more than 700 shoppers want to get to know you. Find them in our social network. Chat, post photos, join groups. Soon we’ll add videos, blogs, instant messaging. Network in person. Come to our parties and seminars to share ideas and learn new things. Host a party or fundraiser with us. We work with businesses to plan parties and charity fundraisers. You provide the space, we do the marketing. We get businesses to work together and keep everyone’s

costs low. Restaurants donate food, retail shops provide discounts and raffle prizes. We can do small-scale events, like wine and cheese parties for 10-15 people, and large-scale events, like citywide clothing swaps that draw hundreds of people. Read our e-newsletter. We’re always networking and finding cool ways for you to promote your business.

... a shopper Win prizes. Check out our monthly contests for chance to win great prizes from independent businesses. We’ve given out gift certificates for swimsuits, yard decor, cigars and lots more. Add your favorite stores. Our directory lists more than 700 independent businesses in the Tampa Bay area. But we know there are tons more. If you have a favorite, you can

add it. It’s free. Rank stores, write reviews. Let the world know what you like about the shops in your neighborhood. We have a fivestar ranking system, and a place for you to add your own review, by each store. Make friends online. Meet business owners and other indie-minded shoppers around Tampa Bay. Chat with them through our social network, post photos. Soon we’ll be adding videos, blogs and instant messaging. Be a card-carrying member. We’ll soon launch LocalShops1.com card, valid for discounts and perks at dozens of businesses. We’ll let you know how you can get the card, for free.

... a business or neighborhood association

Get free ads: We’re always up for ad swaps. You list us in your newsletter, we’ll list you in ours. It’s all about working

together and promoting each other. Co-sponsor our discount card. The card will offer discounts and perks throughout Tampa Bay. We’ll take care of printing and distribution, you help us get your members listed. Co-host events. We work with business and networking groups all over town. Let’s get our members together, for social and business networking, and for seminars that can help everyone.

... a non-profit

Call us. We’re always planning new events and fundraisers, and would love to help you.