Sargasso, the women's clothing and gift shop, will reopen its doors Friday, Nov. 12, in Trompeter Gade.
Sargasso was part of the Coach store on Main Street, which owner Kathryn Peterson closed in September. She has since consolidated the Coach and Fendi lines into her well-established Leather Shop on the north side of Main Street and now is doing last-minute renovations to the new Sargasso store.
"We decided to reopen primarily because many local people, mostly working in town, said they needed a place to buy St. Thomas-appropriate clothes for everyday wear," Peterson said. "We have been gratified by the local support. Our customer base is here in St. Thomas; our tourist sales are a pleasant add-on."
The new location, which formerly housed Papillon and before that Dilly Dally, is larger and quieter than the old Sargasso space at Coach.
But Peterson is worried.
"It's always a risk to move a store," she said. "This is not really a time to expand, with a fairly unfriendly business climate, but there is a demand for more women's clothing."
The store will carry about 20 lines — "no ‘big names,' mostly emerging small specailty companies selected for particularly good production of one product line," Peterson said. Among them: Flax linen casual wear, Michael Stars T-shirts with metallic threads woven into the cotton, Natori sleepwear, Arch shoes and Steven Dweck jewelry.
"We will always have a few things for men, but not much," she said. "But we will have lots of little accessories, from barrettes to umbrellas to cut velvet shawls, and we'll have many unique and affordable gifts like ‘nuts&bolts' metal art and marble decorative pieces."
Elfie Veser, long a fixture on the St. Thomas fashion scene from her days at Lion in the Sun, is the manager and buyer.
The new Sargasso is in the middle of Trompeter Gade, reachable by entering the alley from Main Street at Cartier or from the Waterfront at the Tommy Hilfiger store.
