A Long Hot Summer...and a Super Cool Yule!

Wow! So much can happen over the course of a few months.

Roadside Attraction experienced a long, hot, QUIET summer at Antique Alley...TOO quiet for our liking! Sad to say, after two years spent trying to work with the other shops to bring the Alley back to life as a fun shopping destination, we realized there were too many things beyond our control (Hello, derelict south side! Yes, I said that!). Even though we have been building a following of the coolest customers in Pinellas County and beyond, that location became more of a liability than an underdog rallying to get back into the spotlight...so we decided to pack up and move to greener pastures.

But where? Finding THE PERFECT SPOT was going to take some time...or so we thought. One day in late October, a potential new location dropped out of the blue as a suggestion from an Alley neighbor who also happened to be looking for a more happening locale. Jennifer Kapper, of Forty Three Oh 3 and Oh Whatever fame in South Tampa and soon-to-open Patina Maison in Largo, mentioned a double-wide opportunity in Largo! (insert trailer joke here)

We see it as more of a "Siamese Twin" kind of space, naturally! Two lovely units are...ahem...conjoined at the cash wrap, allowing us to help each other out with staffing, camaraderie and snack sharing, ha ha...

Here's a "BEFORE" picture of
Roadside
Attraction's
NEW location at
13836 Walsingham Rd, LARGO.

Also, with her "vintage reimagined" style--voluptuous painted furniture, unique accessories...and the chandeliers!--and our retro-tropical flair, shopping at our two new stores will help you fill every room of your home, from boudoir and dining room to tiki bar and rumpus room, with a unique look seen nowhere else.

Moving the shop into a new location was not exactly how we imagined spending the end of 2014, but we couldn't be happier and more excited to take the party to such a fantastic new location! Yes--We are missing out on all the holiday retail fun, but in The Big Picture, Santa knew EXACTLY what to bring us this year! We must have been REALLY good!

So, we hope you all have the best of holidays and please come visit next month (probably by mid-January) when Roadside Attraction opens at 13836 Walsingham Rd, Largo FL, just east of the intersection with Indian Rocks Rd, in the Hammock Hardware plaza, directly across from the WalMart Neighborhood Market. 

And don't forget--you can always get the latest news at www.Facebook.com/ShopRoadsideAttraction.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Best Regards,
Tiki Dave and the Tipsy Gypsy

Aloha and Cheers!

Time for an update, kiddoes!

The Tipsy Gypsy is thrilled to announce that Roadside Attraction continues to evolve as we learn more about the retail vintage scene and work on refining our niche. (And what a niche it's turning out to be!)

Running a small business is the most exciting and all-consuming adventure for us as it represents pretty much every thing we love: treasure hunting near and far for the coolest stuff and being able to share it with everyone who walks through our door.

But the absolute best part of it all has been making so many new friends and meeting so many cool people. From favorite customers to fellow dealers and vendors, artists, musicians--the people we've gotten to know have added so much to this experience. No matter how hard running a business can be--most days, it's like trying to keep a lead balloon up in the air--we wouldn't trade it for the world because it put these awesome folks in our path.

What's next? Oh, so much is coming down the pike, I can't even believe it! Here's the summer in a nutshell:

Most immediately, we'll be setting up shop again at The Hukilau in Ft. Lauderdale, June 12-15. Not only will we finally get to meet one of the nicest guys on the planet (Jeff from Vintage Roadside--we've been carrying his popular Tiki Gardens T-shirts since we opened in 2012), we'll be seeing some of our favorite people who really helped make our first show EVER (at last year's Hukilau) such an amazing weekend. The booth next to ours, Jim & Freda of Aloha Art & Alligators, were so kind to help us with our set-up and offered such good neighbor-liness. Robert and Nicole were picture-perfect Hukilau-ers and an all around swell couple that we were thrilled to meet. And of course...there were The Intoxicators and their alter-egoes, The Disasternauts--what would a Hukilau soundtrack be without them?

We're also hoping to launch a new event concept in late June or July called "Speakeasy Sundays." It'll be a fun cocktail-related symposium, complete with a little learnin' and a little "refreshment" and a few other special treats. Keep checking our Facebook page for details.

In mid-July...We're doing away with the Craft Lounge and bringing in the Craft COCKTAILS! We expect to do a lot of SERIOUS RESEARCH at Tales of the Cocktail (a liquor industry extravaganza) in New Orleans, so we can bring you..."everything but the booze" by the end of the summer. In addition to showcasing even more sweet vintage cocktail accoutrements, we will make it easy for the home mixologist to whip up first-rate libations using the latest barware and other necessary ingredients for enjoying a civilized evening in with friends.

This segue into promoting the entertaining arts of yesteryear also represents another thing we love--hosting fabulous parties, as anyone who ever attended one of our legendary Halloween soirees can attest. So with the addition of more cocktail-related goods, we'll be elevating the retail experience to feel like more of a drop-in shindig on a regular basis.

Thank you for reading this post and be sure to follow Roadside Attraction on our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/ShopRoadsideAttraction .

Mahalo and Cheers, Everyone!
--The Tipsy Gypsy