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Homey beach shop banks on genuine warmth

By PAUL SWIDER
Published December 20, 2006

Jone Gamble has lived on Pass-a-Grille Way for 22 years and has seen shops come and go, but she has never seen anything like Comfort and Joy.

"In these days and times, people don't take a moment," she said. "The ladies there make you want to stop and take a moment."

Gamble said the shop, at 808 Pass-a-Grille Way, not only provides interesting homemade products, crafts and fresh produce, but it has become a community center. The proprietors didn't intend for that to happen, but their enthusiasm and eclecticism have hit home in this redoubt at the end of the beach.

"It became what was needed," said Mary Ann Kelley, 65, who with Angie Cheak, 43, started the shop a year ago. They live above it.

The women sell gifts, Kelley's original artwork and Cheak's products, from pickled beets to bourbon balls and organic honey from backyard bees. There is fresh organic produce on the porch; local shoppers often stop by after hours, take what they want and leave their money - usually more than is required - in a mailbox.

The store has also become a gathering place, especially on Friday nights, when the Front Porch Gals get together to nibble, sip and talk. The store is also a cooking school, a consultancy, a book club and an economic development engine for organic farmers.

"It's definitely not a tourist shop," Cheak said.

And it never should have happened, she said.

The women came down 10 years ago on a visit from Lexington, Ky., where they had been friends and business partners in Heaven Scent, a successful florist serving high-end customers.

They wound up in St. Pete Beach by accident but decided to stay. They soon signed on to do floral arranging at the Don Cesar. Then last year their house burned down.

After a couple of family tragedies, they found themselves stunned, homeless and having lost all their worldly possessions.

They decided to quit their jobs and open the shop. It started off well but waned over the summer and almost put them under.

"We didn't have the money to get this going," Cheak said.

They kept trying different things and finding new customers. But what really hit was their openness and hospitality. Everyone is made to feel at home.

"The feeling is like an old Florida general store," Kelley said. "It's like Mayberry."

Some customers come to shop, some to linger, some to fend off loneliness. The women extended an open invitation at Thanksgiving to anyone who had nowhere to go for dinner. They cooked for 44 people.

"They have the ability to make you feel like you're the most important person in the world," said Kathleen Matecki, a neighbor and regular shopper. "It's hard to believe, in this day and age, that people can be that open."

Shoppers come for specific items, like bird paintings or banana sauce.

Others just browse or play with the poodles, George and Remey.

All find something to take home, be it pineapple chutney or just a warm feeling.

"It is," Gamble said, "just what the name of the property says it is: comfort and joy."

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 01:50:05]