In Naples, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the cosmopolitan charm of the Third Street South shopping and dining district comes as a surprise and delight to shoppers weary of encountering the same brands in glitzy malls all over the world. Within a setting of antique fountains, cozy courtyards, lush landscaping, a collection of singular shops, boutiques, galleries, salons, and restaurants comprises an elegant enclave of laid-back luxury.
Crowning the north end of the city’s exclusive Port Royal neighborhood, where Gordon Pointe with a $295 million price tag is said to be the most expensive residence for sale in America, Third Street South’s pastel parade of colorfully classic colonial buildings upholds the tradition and legacy of “Old Naples.”
Early 1946 visitors Dorette and Junkie Fleischman converted the historic Mercantile Building into The Antique Attic which sold antiques and porcelains they’d collected throughout Europe while voyaging the world in the 1930s on their yacht Camargo. The cluster of properties they eventually acquired and built now surrounds Fleischmann Plaza with a 19th-century Italian fountain brought to Naples from the gardens of the Fleischmann’s Winding Creek Farm built in the 1920s in Indian Hill outside Cincinnati. Their daughter Joan Fleischmann Tobin now oversees and maintains the high standards of her parents’ vision.
Most of Third Street South’s more than two dozen extraordinary boutiques in addition to picturesque versions of Lilly Pulitzer, Eileen Fisher, J. McLaughlin, Tommy Bahama, feature fashions focused on the prevailing elegant but casual lifestyle.
Anchoring one entire corner, Marissa Collections (also recently opened in Palm Beach’s Royal Poinciana) is a virtual square block of jewelry, accessories, and the creations of Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Balmain. For men, John Craig Clothier, named one of the country’s ten best men’s retailers, offers high end and bespoke haberdashery sold with individual attention. Sara Campbell’s brilliant resort wear is accessorized with colorful scarves, bags, and tops. The rainbow-hued pants at Gretchen Scott Design are said to be unmatched for comfort and fit.
Home decorations, gifts, and garden collections are exceptional. For over fifty years, people have been coming to Gattle’s to dress their homes in fine objects and linens. The Patina Collection of antiques, tabletop, and garden items is sourced from Tuscany and around the globe.
Internationally acclaimed brands Herend, Christofle, D.Porthault, Astier De Villante, and Marie Daage are names to note in the only branch of Washington DC’s matchless A Mano Home which offers an unsurpassed array of tableware, accessories, garments, and gifts as well as an in-store monogram service and an Italian cobbler crafting Della Valle sandals on site.
Mornings start with coffees, lattes, chai, and extravagant muffins and scones created at Tony’s off Third. Throughout the day snacks and gourmet meals are served in a dozen cafes, plaza courtyards, elegant white linen dining rooms, and national award winning restaurants. Every Saturday morning year-round one of the foremost Farmers Markets in the country sets up with carefully selected street foods featuring local produce and the finest preparations of ethnic snacks.
Currently an innovative program La Bonne Vie is inviting shoppers to special revolving commodity “pop ups.” In a gallery exhibiting witty society pictures by Palm Beach and Newport photographer Nick Mele, vendors are proffering merchandise which evokes furnishings and fashions in the pictures. Chairs and carpets by New Home, flowing caftan AvA fashions by Ala von Auersperg, and opportunities to select among exclusive offerings of jewelry, fragrances, handbags, eyewear, candles, and Easter Herend bunnies enable purchasers to emulate the “good life” qualities pictured on the walls. Ten percent of La Bonne Vie sales are donated to Women Lifting Women which aids homeless seniors, and the rotation of pop ups is scheduled to last through the month of March.
