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Everybody's business

Robb & Stucky to show and sell

A 120,000-square-foot area in International Plaza is filled with model rooms and designer furniture, as well as accessories.

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published February 25, 2005

Robb & Stucky Interiors is opening a new showroom at International Plaza on Saturday.

Filling 120,000 square feet of the former Lord & Taylor space, the furniture store will be Robb & Stucky's flagship, spokeswoman Tara Hustedde said. Besides furniture, the location will offer custom window treatments and stone, wood and tile flooring.

The store will also have specialty departments, including the Boutique at Robb & Stucky Interiors, which will stock high-end home accessories, linens and floral accessories.

Model rooms will display the latest collections of designers such as Ralph Lauren, Thomas O'Brien, Martha Stewart, David Easton, Larry Laslo and Dorothy Draper. Details are in the works for an in-store cafe and cooking school, Hustedde said.

Lord & Taylor's parent company, May Department Stores Inc., closed its International Plaza location in July 2004, along with 31 other stores throughout the Southeast.

Hustedde said Robb & Stucky Interiors will employ more than 75 people.

Founded in Fort Myers 90 years ago, Robb & Stucky has 17 locations in Florida, Texas and Arizona.

BAKERY HONING ITS BUSINESS: The Olympia Bakery has had plenty of time to evolve.

Originally called La Paloma Bakery, it opened in Ybor City in 1924 and became Olympia after moving to West Tampa in the early 1950s. After a year, it moved a few blocks north on Howard Avenue to its current location, near Pine Street.

In 2003, Olympia opened a catering event showroom two doors north on Howard. Now, it goes by Olympia Catering to reflect the recent elimination of its walkup retail business. You can still get everything Olympia has offered, including the pastries, sandwiches, deviled crab, salads and empanadas. You'll just have to order them ahead of time.

General manager Darren Diaz, grandson of bakery founder Jose Diaz, says the change reflects Olympia's new focus on catering and event planning. Olympia also rents furniture, tableware, tents, props and other special event items.

The old storefront space might be converted to offices, Diaz said.

LITTLE KICKS FROM EUROPE: If you think it's hard to find good shoes in this town, you probably feel twice as bad about your prospects if you're a parent.

Lee Peters feels your pain. So she opened Poco Pattino children's shoe store on Saturday at 3625-A S Manhattan Ave., just north Euclid Ave.

Peters also feels your children's pain caused by sub-par shoes. In her view, that includes most shoes made domestically. So she carries many brands from Europe, where she says shoemakers tend to be more enlightened.

"A lot of them work with orthopedic doctors," she said.

Regardless of origin, a good way to tell a cheaply made shoe is how stiff it is, she said. Stiff shoes don't flex and breathe enough, and inhibit proper growth.

Peters' shoes "are designed to shape around the foot for ideal development," she said.

Peters, a sixth-generation Tampa native, is a former New York City fashion industry sales representative. She moved back to Tampa three years ago to start a family, which now boasts 3-year-old Reese and 11-month-old Kai.

Though Poco Pattino loosely translated means "a little bit of baby shoes" in Italian, Peters stocks sizes up to preteen. She also sells socks and hair accessories for girls.

Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3382, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com

[Last modified February 24, 2005, 09:35:09]