To start with, Jason Stocks wrote a business plan and hosted investor dinners. Lest that sound too by-the-book, he also borrowed money from his wife’s parents and cashed out his 401(k). When District Table & Bar opened in Stuart in 2013, Stocks had $5,000 to his name, chairs from a defunct Red Lobster and a certain amount of rookie-owner’s […]
When Kimberly Perron traded in her engineering career for interior design, the founder of Resort at Home quickly learned she had to walk a fine line to capture the essence of the Sunshine State through decor. “You want beachy, not Hawaiian hotel room,” says Perron. “But it was difficult to find a variety of sophisticated […]
Derek JeterBig Baller After his 2014 retirement from 20 years in MLB, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter didn’t retreat to his 30,000-square-foot Davis Islands home. He fussed with ordinary stuff, like keeping nosy neighbors away—seeking Tampa City Hall’s permission to install a taller front gate. Number Two, as he’s known, is also striving to […]
North JJ COOPER Fernandina Jake Michaelis always dreamed of owning a men’s store that reflected his Southern roots. That dream became reality on March 30th, when he and his friends, John and Laurie Lecker, opened the doors to JJ Cooper on downtown Centre Street in his hometown of Fernandina. The store’s rustic, refined décor features […]
As a young mother, Emily Stroud’s weekends revolved around taking her children to the beach, to the pool and on the boat in the waters of Sarasota Bay. It was then that the Gainesville native realized there wasn’t a bag that covered all her packing needs: something durable, functional and on-trend. Deciding she couldn’t be […]
Is it hard to be taken seriously in the music world when you’re from Florida? The answer is yes, according to Lauren Morgan, who, with Jordan Shih, makes up the Orlando-based pop duo Sales. “You get categorized as a novelty. A writer called one of our tunes ‘sunburnt’. We are not Salt Life. Jordan can’t […]
Here’s how we stacked up: 1. Siesta Beach 3. Saint Pete Beach 4. Clearwater Beach 5. Panama City Beach 6. Hollywood Beach 7. Pensacola Beach 8. St. Augustine Beach 11. Fort Lauderdale Beach 12. South Beach 17. Henderson Beach State Park Take a look at some of Florida’s biggest environmental challenges, heroes and hopes in A […]
Fruit pioneers Scott and Lindsay Meyer are bringing mayhaw back in a big way—in addition to being successful rice croppers at Congaree and Penn in Jacksonville. The fruit, with pinkish to deep red skin, looks like a tiny little apple or a big berry—the biggest one, less than an inch in diameter. “Mayhaw, from the […]
A chilled glass of wine on a sunny Florida afternoon may be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Just be sure to sip quickly; during summer’s triple-digit temperatures, that refreshing rosé can turn from tasty to tepid in a hot second. Orlando entrepreneur and wine-lover Ben Hewitt had been battling this problem for years when, in […]
