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Business headlines
By SHARON L. BOND, Neighborhood Times Business Editor Self-storage will fill up Scotty's siteSEMINOLE -- The vacant Scotty's on Seminole Boulevard is being renovated into a mini storage complex to be called Quality Self Storage. The new owner of the Scotty's is Brad Baldwin of Boca Grande, who builds and owns a number of storage sites in the Tampa Bay area, according to Mark Freeman, who manages Quality Self Storage in Clearwater. Baldwin on Tuesday said the emphasis in the new storage center will be on the climate-controlled space. Scotty's, the home improvement center now concentrating on hardware stores in rural areas, decided last year to close its big operations, such as the store in Seminole. That store opened in 1981 and did well until a Home Depot located near it several years ago. The store being renovated has 37,000 square feet and sits on 4.2 acres. Freeman said the first phase of the renovation involves fixing up the main building, which will have a number of air-conditioned storage units. An office will be built toward the front of the property. Fenced outdoor parking for recreational vehicles and boats will be built. There also will be some indoor parking for RVs and boats, Baldwin said. In the second phase, another four buildings are planned, Freeman said. Some of the storage units could be ready as early as August or September, Freeman said. Pottery store to slip down FourthST. PETERSBURG -- Looking for a new location, Practically Pikasso decided on the Outback Steakhouse building at 1900 Fourth St. N. The paint-your-own pottery store plans to be open in the new location by Sept. 1. The store, owned by Tiffany Webb, opened in 1999. Manager Lisa Daily said Practically Pikasso has a lot more inventory now and offers a variety of classes. Daily said the location of Outback Steakhouse in the old Bradford Coach House building was a draw for the crafts shop. "It's a really good location. We figured, why not try something new. It's really growing down there; not like it is up here," Daily said. The shop's current location is 6508 Fourth St. N. In addition to Outback, which is scheduled to open July 30, the old Bradford Coach House will have an optometrist shop and Panera Bread cafe on the first floor. Practically Pikasso will be on the second floor along with the Glasure Group, a public relations, marketing and special events firm. Organic food, yoga to harmonizeST. PETERSBURG -- Beach Drive Yoga now is Herb'n Yoga and has moved to 720 Second St. N, next to Ambrosia restaurant. In its new location, the yoga studio also will feature a store with vegetarian and organic foods and some clothing, according to John Bancroft. He and Haris Lender are partners in the enterprise. The studio had a soft opening Monday, but the store probably won't be ready until the first of July, according to Bancroft. "Our focus is to be organic whenever it's available. Whatever we carry will be organic as much as possible," Bancroft said. One area where that is not possible is in clothing for yoga, he said. Beach Drive Yoga was one of the entrepreneurs that opened in the 400 block of Beach Drive after the block was targeted for development into a twin-tower, mixed-use complex featuring approximately 200 condominiums. The businesses still there will have to be out by Aug. 1.
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