Couple's new shop puts focus on nature

By CHRISTINA A. COSDON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

A burbling fountain, the call of a loon and the fragrances of pine and beeswax are among the sensations that greet visitors to Nature's Focus, a new business specializing in merchandise for studying nature, from butterflies to planets.

The store is behind a little garden and trees that block the space for overhead signs, which is one of the reasons the 1,400-square-foot storefront sat vacant for more than a year. But the trees and garden are precisely what attracted Jan and Dave Anschuetz to open their business there this month.

"We're going to put in some native plants and a butterfly garden," Dave Anschuetz said of the garden that now includes a bird feeder and a colorful fabric flamingo.

As for the business sign, there won't be one overhead. Anschuetz said he obtained a variance to put signs on the posts outside the front door.

Anschuetz had worked in sales in the building industry for many years. Suddenly last summer, he decided he wanted to do something different, "something fun," he said. He was working for Littrell Lumber in St. Petersburg at the time. "I gave them my resignation and left the end of July," he said.

He wanted to buy a franchise in something related to nature. Both Anschuetz and his wife, who are St. Petersburg natives and live in Gulfport, are avid birdwatchers and active in the Florida Native Plant Society, Boyd Hill Nature Park, Audubon and other local nature organizations.

While searching for franchises, he found a Web site for the Compleat Naturalist in Asheville, N.C., a nature store and wildlife art gallery with more than 3,000 products. "I went up to look at their store and found out they do consulting work," Anschuetz said. "So, we hired them to help with setting up our business. One of the benefits was to be able to use their vendor list."

Anschuetz, 49, said he invested $70,000 to open the business.

The store has books, videos, clothing, gear and equipment for hobbies such as astronomy, bird-watching, geology and collecting insects, and there is a children's section. The inventory also includes CDs and tapes on nature sounds and music, art posters, etchings and photographs, jewelry, rain gauges, weather radios, hiking sticks, as well as bat, butterfly and bee houses made of recycled wood.

Recycled pine, cut to order in the reconstructed saw mill at Boyd Hill's Pinellas Pioneer settlement, was used to decorate the store's walls.

Among the unusual gifts in the store is a collection of bowl-shaped candle holders made of beeswax and decorated with dried flowers worked into the wax. A burning votive candle warms the bowl and gives off the fragrance of the beeswax. Prices are $42 and $52 for the holders.

Other items in the store range from 50 cents for rubber insects and lizards to $500 for a telescope.

Mrs. Anschuetz spends three days at the store and three at her job as a medical secretary at All Children's Hospital.

The couple's Jack Russell terrier mix, Tinsel, is at the store every day, usually snoozing on her special pillow behind the counter.

Nature's Focus is in the Park Collection shopping center at 11218 Park Blvd. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. Call 393-8110.

Real estate news

Mary Josephson, a sales associate with more than 18 years' experience, has received the certified residential specialist designation. She works with Century 21 Mills First, 7779 Starkey Road.

Darlene Wilhelm has joined Century 21 Grant Realty, 6450 Seminole Blvd., as a sales associate. She has extensive experience in local commercial and residential property. She previously worked in corporate and customer sales and at one time was proprietor of three businesses.

Chamber luncheon talk on small business

The Greater Seminole Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Thursday will feature a program on "Retirement Plans and Investment Strategies for Small Businesses" with Scott Everhart of A.G. Edwards & Son.

Cost of the buffet luncheon is $10 a person in advance and $12 at the door.

The program will be at Banquet Masters, 8100 Park Blvd. N. Call the chamber at 392-3245.

- Know of a new or unique business in the greater Seminole area? If so, tell us about it. Send items to Seminole Business, Seminole Times, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756 or fax it to 445-4119. We also are interested in promotions, expansions and major new contracts. Photos can be sent, but not all will be used and they cannot be returned.

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