Hobby Lobby Grand Opening in Sarasota Set For Monday, May 20

The popular craft and hobby store will host a grand opening for its new Sarasota location.

Hobby Lobby, a popular craft store coming to South Tamiami Trail and Beneva Road in Sarasota, will hold a grand opening Monday, May 20, the company said. The 56,000-square-foot craft and hobby store that will replace a Kmart at 8191 S. Tamiami Trail is one of more than 500 Hobby Lobby locations in the country. A new Bradenton Hobby Lobby will open the following Monday on Cortez Road West. The stores carry everything from furniture and vases to clocks, birdhouses and arts and crafts supplies. The Oklahoma City-based company is also known for its religious views as much as its crafts, with the family owning the world's largest collection of Biblical antiquities and operates Hobby Lobby "in a manner consistent with Biblical principles," …

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New Business Spotlight

ReVive Opens at Sarasota Square Mall

Health and wellness store aims to offer products that stimulate the brain.

A new health and wellness store, ReVive – Your Mind Body Spirit Store, is now open inside the Westfield Sarasota Square Mall. The store specializes in high quality products for the mind, body and spirit. Owner Julie Clarke’s motive for opening ReVive is simple: “I want to help the local community feel better.” To intrigue the mind, Clarke offers products like puzzles, books and games. To nourish the body: organic teas, lotions and massage equipment. To revive the spirit: inspirational artwork, books and jewelry. Essential oils, soy and shea butter candles, gourmet foods and fudge and a Dr. Fugi Electric Cyber Slimmer Machine are other customer favorites. Behind Clarke’s motive to help others feel better is her own story of healing. “In …

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Pottery Business Opens In Sarasota

Coast to Coast Pottery offers home decor and more in north Sarasota.

Coast to Coast Pottery, a business which imports and sells pottery, recently opened at 2036 20th Street.  Talavera, Asian, Mexican clay, folk clay, planters, urns, and fountains are some of the products offered.  Coast to Coast Pottery is open for business Monday – Saturday  9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.  For more information, call 941-365-4400 or visit www.CTCPottery.com. Coast to Coast is also on Facebook and Twitter.

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New Business Spotlight

Plants And Treasures Offers Home For Bargain Hunters

A new home decor store Plants and Treasures will open in Sarasota on Saturday.

This Saturday, a new store is opening up by the airport that is unlike anything else in town. While there may be other retail establishments that offer home décor items and live plants, the owner of Plants and Treasures says his store will fulfill a specific need in the Sarasota/Manatee market. “The reaction of people here will be one of shock, because I will have the best florist-quality plants at the best prices,” Mike Bonk said. “I’m going to knock their socks off with the prices.” Plants and Treasures, 7942 N. Tamiami Trail, will hold its grand opening at 9 a.m Saturday. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Bonk said that the way he is able to keep the costs so low on the live plants…

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Legal Corner

3 Questions: How to Establish a Business in Florida

Explore the different ways to incorporate and which model might work best for you.

CONTEST ON: Read below for a link to official rules. This week Debbie T was chosen and asked us to donate to: Humane Society of Pinellas. We will have all past donations out next week and be current by this time next week. Congratulations! You are starting a new business and you want to know what type of business entity you want to establish. Do you want a corporation, a limited liability company, a professional association, a partnership, or be a sole proprietor?  Here are three questions to take to your attorney AND your accountant. 1.  DO I NEED TO HAVE A LEGALLY ORGANIZED BUSINESS TO CONDUCT BUSINESS SAFELY? You do not need to have a business entity in order to conduct business. In other words, you do not need to incorporate or file …

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New Business Spotlight

Owner, Burgers Go Wayback At Jake's

Brothers Mark, Chris and Joe Biccum brought a new burger joint, Jake's Wayback Burgers to Sarasota.

Mark Biccum, 33, goes wayback in the food industry.  He started out in the restaurant business when he was 15 years old in upstate New York and got into the burger business in the early '20s, so why not become a franchisee of a place called Jake's Wayback Burgers? "Ketchup and mustard runs through my veins," Biccum says. The Connecticut-based burger joint opened up its first-ever mall food court location inside the Westfield Sarasota Square Mall in June and hope to give folks in south Sarasota a new, fresh option for burgers, shakes and fries. Biccum and his three brothers, Joe Biccum, 29, and Chris Biccum, 26, run BICC Brothers LLC, bought into the Jake's franchise in 2009 and opened up a Lutz location, which is a traditional full-service…

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New Business Spotlight

Gateway Cafe Serves Up a Satisfying Meal

New eatery in Gulf Gate offers breakfast all day and hearty lunches in the afternoon.

As a couple exited the newly opened Gateway Cafe, located in the heart of Gulf Gate, the man called over his shoulder to the restaurant staff, "It's delicious." It's a sentiment that's surely repeated day after day inside this little eatery. The crisp white walls are accented with sage green, red and black furniture and accents that give the cafe a modern country kitchen feel. The menu is stuffed with delicious-sounding egg dishes, sausage and gravy, and other breakfast staples that are served all day (Gateway Cafe's hours include Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.). Sandwiches, soups, homecut fries and wraps are served in the afternoon.  The specials board is a one temptation after another — …

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Report: P.F. Chang's Opening Delayed Until 2013

Demolition has not been completed of a former office building on Osprey Avenue to make way for the Asian-inspired restaurant.

If you're looking forward to those big plates at P.F. Chang's, you'll still have to drive to Tampa for awhile longer. The restaurant was tabbed to open on 766 S. Osprey Avenue in November or December, but a report by The Herald-Tribune says that construction will likely finish in March or April 2013 thanks to a considerable amount of abestos abatement needed before demolishing the office: "They're not going to hit the tourist season," [restaurant developer Dr. Mark] Kauffman said. "It'll take about eight months to build the building." The restaurant is known for family sized Chinese meals in an upscale atmosphere. The restaurant will offer 208 seats inside and 68 seats outside. Construction equipment and fencing surrounded the building …

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New Business Spotlight

For Kissa Cupcake, Success Is Sweet, Indeed

What started as a way for two girls to pass the time has, years later, Kissa Cupcake grown into a burgeoning business.

What are two girls of 6 and 8 supposed to do all day while their mothers hang out together? Get cooking in the kitchen, of course. That seemed like a logical answer for Melissa Brantlinger and Brooke Cole in early 1990s Sarasota. "We’d be stuck at the house, and since we both grew up with a love for sugar, we would think: OK, there’s no snacks here, so let’s make something," Cole told Patch. "So we'd open up our Betty Crocker cookbooks ..." They whipped up brownies, cakes and sugar cookies for many years in their family kitchens, until it dawned on them that they could make a living at it. About 20 years later, Kissa Cupcake, an online cupcake catering company, was born. When she was just a freshman in high school, Brantlinger's dream of …

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Taste, Technology Unite At Carmel Cafe

Modern Mediterranean restaurant Carmel Cafe and Wine Bar combines modern food and modern ordering at new University Park location.

Inside a new restaurant in University Park, modern dining takes on a new meaning thanks to table side technology. A new Carmel Cafe & Wine Bar opened for dinner Monday at 8433 Cooper Creek Blvd., marking the third location for the restaurant group — all located on the Gulf Coast — where your modern Mediterranean dishes are ordered by iPad. Carmel didn't invent the concept of touch-screen ordering, but should be commended for having this available in a restaurant setting. Pennsylvania-based Sheetz gas stations revolutionized ordering food at gas stations through its touch-screens in 1995 becoming the first in the convenience store industry to do so. Why it took so long for table-service restaurants to catch on is that you need something …

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