Getting Hooked

Normally I wouldn't be caught dead shopping in a store that advertises live bait out front. But I was on foot, it started to rain and I darted into Flying Fish Trading Co. in Fort Myers Beach to stay dry. Within minutes, I realized I had stumbled upon a treasure trove of the Davey Jones Locker variety. Owners David and Kimberly Woodring deal in vintage nautical items and plenty of them: a brass diving helmet ($500), model boats, whalebone objects, old tin shipyard signs, books, paintings, lanterns and wooden carvings of shore birds, along with some new-fangled contraptions such as a transparent toilet seat with fishing lures embedded in its clear polyresin ($85).

Here's how the owners of this two-year-old enterprise got into the business of nautical memorabilia: David was a chef who had a seafood place in Hilton Head, and he and Kim decorated the dining room in a nautical theme with items they'd scrounged from garage sales, liquidation closeouts and thrift shops.

"Customers kept asking us if they could purchase items," says Kim. "I would tell them it was just decoration, but they'd insist I put a price on something and off they'd go with it. Eventually it dawned on us that we had a knack for spotting nautical collectibles and we'd probably have a lot more fun doing that for a living than being tied to a restaurant."

Today Kim keeps a list of objects collectors from around the country have asked the couple to find for them. Some items come through the front door with people who want to sell or trade; others they have to hunt for. One of the most popular items Flying Fish carries is a Japanese net float, which comes in several sizes and colors. These gorgeous glass orbs would be lovely piled high in a basket next to an end table on the terrace or in the family room. The large net floats are $180 each, and every one looks slightly different as it catches the light. I'm sure you'll need at least one.

Waterside shops has been 285,000 square feet of rubble, noise, dirt and confusion for months. How those valiant folks at stores such as Kirsten's Boutique, Yamron Jewelers and Fussy Frog have managed to keep their doors open to the public and stay so cheerful is a retail miracle. They've been holding off for the big payoff; and thankfully, that's about to arrive.

The 13-year-old Waterside Shops is receiving a tony renovation as it morphs into something even more up-market with the addition of Hermes, Burberry, Christofle, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Lacoste, Tiffany, Gucci and other international shops. The basic construction costs will come in at about $25 million, but that doesn't include landscaping, lights, architectural fees for the new and renovated stores, water features, etc. Besides the luxury brands that rival Miami's Bal Harbour and Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Waterside will be home to the haunts we all know and love from major cities, including J.Jill, Brooks Brothers, Anthropologie and Tumi. What isn't being torn down or invented is playing musical storefronts. Anthropologie and the Gap are part of several stores going into the space that used to house Jacobson's, and Tiffany will go into the space that the Gap is leaving.

Yamron, which sits between Max Mara and Banana Republic, isn't moving, but it is expanding its watch and jewelry lines. And the management is showing its sensitivity to construction inconveniences with special services such as home delivery and curbside delivery for repairs. The store has also hired more staff in anticipation of more business once the new mall is up and running.

Waterside will strike a contemporary pose, with translucent etched glass, plenty of water features, better lighting and lots of lush tropical landscaping. Central to the design is a 550-foot curved stone wall complete with flowing water elements. Atop the wall, huge ceramic planters will perch between modular seating units. Valet parking will be available to those who don't want to drive around in circles trying to find a spot near a particular store. The square footage and the perimeter of the mall aren't changing. But some stores and the parking garage will have the option to go up a story, so there definitely will be more space.

The new and improved center is scheduled to be unveiled next November. In the meantime, the Waterside Shops is not nearly as treacherous to negotiate as it was several months ago. And anyway, it's summer sale season. We can't let a few hundred tons of rock and malevolent-looking machinery deter us from seasonal discounts. I've walked through worse at Filene's Basement.

Here's a welcome addition to Miromar Outlets: a wine tasting room. Now when you shop 'til you drop, you can drop in at The Florida Winery and taste several of the 24 wines the company makes using Florida citrus juice, berries and even carrots grown locally and elsewhere. This wine is only about 10 percent alcohol; most of it is light, sweet and definitely refreshing. It's wine for people who aren't into the big house reds or dry whites. Tastings are free.

The men pouring at the tasting bar tell me that the two biggest sellers are the mango wine and, surprisingly, one made primarily with carrots. But there's Key Lime, Orange Sunshine, Tangerine, White Gold (peach), Pina Colada and Cranberry. Then there's Millennium Gold, a strawberry-cream sherry aged in oak for four years and fortified with brandy. With 18-percent alcohol content, Millennium Gold retails for $29.95, but most of the others are in the $15-$20 range.

The Florida Winery is a satellite shop of Florida Orange Groves and Winery in St. Petersburg, which is where all the wine is made. The winery has been in existence since the early 1970s. Besides wine, the Miromar location sells lots of Florida-centered food products such as a basket of citrus candy in the shape of an alligator ($13.49) or an assortment of jams, salsas, dipping sauces, mustards and marinades made with citrus or hot peppers. It's a good place to shop and a lovely place to sip.