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An era ends as designer shop closes

For more than 20 years, Pat Lokey's specialty store was a place in the area to find high-end women's clothing and accessories. Now she's selling and moving on.

By CHRISTINA K. COSDON
Published January 16, 2006

CLEARWATER - Pat Lokey, a name synonymous with good taste, high-end women's fashion and personalized service, is closing her business and selling the building.

She opened her first designer store in 1981 on Clearwater Beach. Eleven years later, she expanded and moved into downtown Clearwater. In 2000, she decided to downsize, sold the building at 401 Cleveland St. and purchased the smaller building at 409 Cleveland St.

In a downtown that doesn't have a lot of retail, Lokey's store was a place where you could go in and have fun spending four figures on an elegant ball gown.

Customers say they will miss the shop and especially Lokey's personal attention.

"It's the end of an era," said longtime customer Jane Kochan. "She's the grand dame of women's retailing here. It's a loss to women in the area and a loss to downtown." Kochan and her twin sister, Joan, are financial consultants and mainly purchased knit outfits for work.

The sisters particularly admire Lokey's business savvy.

"She is a very, very bright woman who knows her business," Kochan said. "She has great taste, great style and she filled a gap in this community. She did this as a single woman all on her own and it's quite admirable."

Shirley Coleman of Clearwater Beach, a customer since the 1980s, said it was sad to see the store so bare when she stopped by to visit Lokey last week.

"I'm upset because we no longer have specialty shops like hers where we can get those beautiful, one-of-a-kind gowns and jewelry," Coleman said. "It's a loss of the merchandise, but we're also losing another well-established business downtown."

On the other hand, Lola Wagenvoord, who owns WTAN radio station, feels Lokey's timing is good, what with the impending downtown road improvements and redevelopment projects.

"I think she made a very wise decision to sell," Wagenvoord said. "They're going to be tearing up the road soon. I think her timing is perfect."

The sale came as a surprise.

Back in November, Michael Ogilvie, president of Murphy Commercial Realty in Clearwater, telephoned Lokey at home to say he had a potential buyer for her building.

"I didn't even have it listed," Lokey said. But when an offer of $635,000 was made, she accepted.

Buyer Brian Hickok of Sand Key is a 36-year-old captain with JetBlue Airways. He said he and his wife, Kristie, plan to lease the building as a construction or advertising office to correspond with the downtown redevelopment work. When the work is completed, they expect to use the building for a business of their own.

"We'll have to see what will be feasible," he said.

In advance of Friday's closing on the building, Lokey has been having a sale of the shop's clothing and accessories and has even given away some of the store's furnishings.

"I've been so busy, it's almost like it's not happening," the 76-year-old widow said. "It feels surreal."

But for the first time in years, she'll have time for other things.

"I'll be able to go to lunch, go on trips and do things I haven't been able to do for a long time and that will be exciting," said the soft-spoken Georgia native. "I'm pleased that I will have more time for my family and friends and myself, but I will miss all my good customers, I've made so many friends here."

An accomplished decorator, Lokey said she doesn't really know what she will do next.

"I don't think I will be going into business again," she said.

Then her eyes brightened.

"What I would really love to do is buy homes and restore them," she said.

As for the clothing business, she said, "it's time to go. The journey has been great. I've been blessed."

[Last modified January 16, 2006, 00:41:10]