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Everybody's Business

Auto detailer, barber on Howard pack up

Maria's End-to-End Auto Detailing and Robin's Barber Shop will bid farewell as the building sells.

By SHARON GINN
Published September 8, 2006

For years, their little building on S Howard Avenue has been the place to go for some South Tampa residents looking to keep their cars clean and their hair neatly trimmed.

Maria's End-to-End Auto Detailing and Robin's Barber Shop have operated side by side in the space at 1101 S Howard Ave. since 1993. Between them, Maria May and Robin Caryl have practically seen it all and feel as though they know just about everyone.

With May, 60, approaching what she figured was a good time to retire, she put the building up for sale last year. The property - along with a private home behind it that someone else owns - is under contract to a buyer, with the closing scheduled for the end of November. If all goes smoothly, the car detailing business and barbershop will close around that time.

"We know a lot of people," May said. "It's going to be a sad day."

May said she was uncertain what would happen to the property or the building, and the buyer could not be reached for comment. The most recent asking price for May's property was $899,000, with the house behind it listed for $750,000, said the listing agent for both, Phyllis Dutschke.

May said the time was right to sell: After 28 years in the retail business and another 13 in auto detailing, "I need to have some fun."

She plans to help one of her employees set up a mobile detailing business to continue serving her clients. May's longtime friend Caryl, 50, is also going mobile: She's going to hang on to some of her close clients and travel to them instead of keeping up her own shop.

Caryl has been cutting hair for 31 years, 26 of them in South Tampa. Retired Gen. Tommy Franks is a regular customer. About half of her clients, most of them from the surrounding neighborhoods, have been with her for more than two decades.

"I'm not going to officially retire. I'm going to just kind of go to a few of their offices and pick out a select group of clientele and take care of them," Caryl said. "You're like family, and you see them every two weeks. ... I've been very fortunate."

HUGO's BUILDING FOR SALE: The home of an even longer-running SoHo institution is up for sale. The 1920 building at Howard and Morrison avenues anchored by Hugo's Spanish Restaurant went on the market last month for $3.4-million.

Hugo Sanchez and his wife, Angela, bought the building 31 years ago and opened the restaurant shortly afterward. Son Ramon, 39, took over the restaurant in 1998. Now the Sanchezes are ready to retire, and Ramon, a medical school graduate, is seeking a residency position. "Times change, and Ramon is ready to go ahead with his career," Angela Sanchez said.

At the moment, Ramon is operating Hugo's as usual. "There's nothing happening here with Hugo's," he said. "We expect everything to stay as is."

The same goes for the other retail establishments in the building, he said, such as a Westshore Pizza franchise that is on a month-to-month lease. The building also includes 16 apartments upstairs.

But Ramon Sanchez also acknowledged that he can't continue running the restaurant if he has to leave the area to do his residency. The listing has generated a lot of interest, he said, with some people talking about doing a full restoration of the building, but there were no offers as of last week.

REAL DECOR: With the residential real estate market cooling, Charlie Hounchell has decided to shift his focus from selling homes to selling the things inside them. He and several friends - including a fellow agent for Smith & Associates - have opened Casa Nova, an art and furnishings shop at 3119 W Bay to Bay Blvd.

Hounchell and three of his four business partners purchased the building last year, after the short-lived Dover Rug business at the location closed. Casa Nova offers furniture, accessories and artwork by local artists.

"We can find you a home and furnish it, too," Hounchell quipped. "We can do staging (of homes for sale), which is kind of a popular thing, especially in this changed real estate market.

"We're bringing stuff in from all over. It's a classic modern mix, with cleaner lines."

Casa Nova is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Vintage pins

Pick a pin, fine or funky, chic or silly, which pretty much sums up the new and used treasures you'll find at On a Shoestring resale shop. Pins start at $1 at 1906 N Himes Ave. Try the fabulous fudge, too. Call 348-0563.

- AMY SCHERZER

[Last modified September 7, 2006, 10:50:17]