St. Petersburg • Clearwater 2009 - (Page 22) Grand Central District, downtown St. Petersburg. Well, you’ve hit the beach and cruised the waters, and now it’s time for a little retail therapy. Where to go? Follow our expert’s picks for traditional and off-the-beaten-track adventures in shopping. : SHOPPING AREAS • The Grand Central District – Spend an afternoon perusing antiques, funky specialty shops and art galleries in this stretch of storefronts along Central Avenue just west of downtown St. Petersburg. • BayWalk and downtown St. Petersburg – Shopping is scenic as well as fun just steps from the bay in downtown St. Petersburg. You can’t help but think of diamonds and pearls as you stroll along Beach Drive, which has one of the oldest jewelry stores in the area – and a couple of new ones. You won’t see any major department stores, but you can easily find an outfit for a vacation and furnish your condo at the trendy BayWalk shopping and entertainment center. The two-story, open-air complex features specialty stores such as Ann Taylor, high-end luggage shop Bag ’n Baggage and Being, a trendy home furnishings store. Farther inland along Central and First avenues, look for vintage vinyl, designer consignment shops and art galleries. • The Pier – St. Petersburg’s famous landmark is more than just a pretty picture. The inverted pyramid building at its end houses more than a dozen stores specializing in everything from artifacts to hats to artisan-crafted perfume bottles. It also has a food court, four full-service restaurants and an aquarium. • Gulfport – Shop owners here tend to have a bohemian spirit. Art from recycled glass, hand-made goat’s milk soap, elaborate painted kites – that’s what you’ll see for sale in this colorful waterfront district. : ART AND WHERE TO BUY IT With so many artists in the area, it’s easy to score a nice one-of-a-kind creation to take back home. Famed artist P Buckley Moss’ most extensive collection is housed in a gallery on Beach Drive in St. Petersburg, . and the St. Pete Clay Company offers pottery straight from the kiln. Choose from a large assortment of artists and media – oil, sketches, multi-media, glass, clay, metal sculpture and artist jewelry creations at the Shapiro Gallery, Craftsman House, Florida Craftsman and the Arts Center in St. Petersburg. Visit the Nancy Markoe Fine American Crafts Museum in Pass-a-Grille Beach for pottery, glass art and artisan-made gift items. The Syd Entel Gallery in Safety Harbor specializes in high-end glass art, and artists at La Mancha Glass Gardens in Tarpon Springs use glass doors as their canvas. Discover burgeoning fine artists and established ones at the Salt Creek art studio just south of downtown St. Petersburg and at Studio 1212 in Clearwater, the area’s oldest artist cooperative. St. Petersburg and Gulfport’s monthly Art Walks are fun ways to shop and meet the artists. Craftsman House 22 : S h o p p i n g a r e a s & fin d s
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.