BEST RETAIL DEBUTS
When it comes to shopping, we take our cues from the people we trust most—longtime style-setters and local luminaries with an eye for the good stuff. This season, our inner circle is raving about three new shops with distinctive POVs and personal charm to spare. Each helmed by a familiar face—a retail legend, an adored artist, a landscape virtuoso—the spaces reflect the elevated tastes of the people and passions behind them.
STARability Home Collection
Lindsey Sablan, an anchor at Gulfshore Life sister company WINK News and frequent fundraiser emcee, has long followed STARability’s transformative work. So, when the organization expanded its home decor shop into a bigger space in Naples Design District last fall, she took note. “It’s one of those stores that’s a treasure trove of goods that changes constantly,” she says.
The STARability Home Collection pairs high-end secondhand finds with a powerful mission—100% of proceeds support programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After stepping down as general manager of Waterside Shops, 2024 Gulfshore Life Woman of the Year Anne Fleming took the reins to help open the new location. She tapped into her luxury retail experience and deep Naples network to source standout donations: Roche Bobois dining chairs, a John-Richard four-door credenza, Natuzzi leather sectionals, velvet sofas, vintage books—always in top condition.
Interior designer Monica Lukas curates the ever-rotating floor displays, creating vignettes that give the goods a polished, showroom-ready feel. “We sometimes get a full house’s worth of donations,” Anne says. —Jasmine Heckerman
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Photography by Omar Cruz
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Waterside Shops visionary Anne Fleming helped launch STARability’s new consignment boutique. Proceeds from the like-new wares (think: Roche Bobois seating, Natuzzi case goods, vintage collectibles) go directly to supporting adults with disabilities.
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Photography by Anna Nguyen
41 Home & Garden
A longtime force in local landscape design, Christian Busk turns his attention indoors with 41 Home & Garden, the interiors-focused sibling to his greenhouse and garden shop. Opened in fall 2024, the Naples Design District showroom blends character-rich pieces—Art Deco Donald Deskey originals, midcentury modern silhouettes, Sicilian ceramics—into a refined and relaxed space.
Christian built his name over nearly 50 years of transforming outdoor spaces into personal escapes, but his instincts for interiors run deep. He scours estate sales and travels widely, curating with intention and spontaneity. Some finds are years in the making—like a sculptural zebrawood end table he spent four years sourcing a match for—while others simply feel right in the moment. That mix of precision and serendipity gives the store its soul.
Assistant editor Annamarie Simoldoni, who covers fashion and home, calls the shop one of the most thoughtful additions to the local design scene. “You can tell how much care goes into Christian’s selections,” she says. “It’s a space that invites you to slow down and take it all in.” —Sydney Sakalosky
Home by Rachel Pierce
Sanibel restaurateur and Gulfshore Life Community Advisory Board member Sandy Stilwell Youngquist points to Home by Rachel Pierce as one of the island’s standout new shops.
Tucked into a compact storefront on Periwinkle Way, the boutique reflects NBC-2 anchor-turned-artist Rachel Pierce’s beach-forward spirit. Since opening last summer, the shop has earned a strong following for its breezy, well-edited mix (her new, nearby pet store, Pierce’s Paw Paradise, is equally popular).
Inside, seafoam green upholstery, octopus-patterned pillows and shell decor mix with curated furnishings sourced by co-owner Lauren Speas. Rachel taps into her network of local makers to keep the shop grounded in Sanibel’s creative community. “We’re leaning into Sanibel’s nature and the beauty of what’s around us,” she says. —Visvajit Sriramrajan
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Courtesy Lauren Speas
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Jessi Norvell/Megan DiPiero Photography
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Sanibel artist Rachel Pierce (right) and friend Lauren Speas debuted their shop last summer as a love letter to the island’s breezy, subtropical style.