Shop Talk: Shopping sales, microbrewery and the Key Marco Cat

Chris Curle special to the Eagle Dave Prasek's Island Treasures store in Shops of Marco is full of fun things to buy for locals and tourists alike, but business is down for a fourth straight year.

Chris Curle special to the Eagle Windows are covered with signs for major sales at the Liz Claiborne store at Prime Outlets, as the firm confirms all the Liz Claiborne outlet stores in the U.S. will close soon.

Don Farmer special to the Eagle When the new Marco Island Brewery opens for business Sept. 10, quaffers will have a choice of beers, including five hand-crafted labels from the brewery's own shiny vats. The microbrewery brews are Funky Pelican Pilsner, Starry Night Stout, Whole Lotta Love - Belgian Wheat, Lager Head Red and the Rock-IPA, Indian Pale Ale.

Don Farmer special to the Eagle Theresa Gantner, partner/manager of the 2wice as Nice clothing consignment shop, is running a major tag sale starting Sept. 4. 2wice is nice, with upscale clothing for women and men, is at 291 South Collier Blvd.

Well, we don’t have the winner’s name, but the winning number in the IberiaBank drawing is: 237745.

Only the winner of the Key Marco Cat replica knows his or her identity. That’s the way the game worked. Anybody could go into Iberia Bank and get a ticket. If you are among the hundreds who did, check your number. Then contact Keith Dameron at Iberia Bank. The winning number also is posted in the bank.

The Key Marco Cat reproduction is the creation of artist Peter Sottong. He is known for his recreations of Calusa Indian art.

Marco’s new microbrewery is set to open next week

The Marco Island Brewery will open its doors next Friday, Sept. 10. The combination microbrewery, bar and restaurant will serve lunch that day, plus host happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m., as well as dinner and a late night menu. The sure-to-be hot spot is in the space at Town Center Mall previously occupied by Bubbalini’s.

It is the only microbrewery in Collier County. And owner Frank Lacava has virtually gutted the interior space and added outdoor seating, plus 24 flat screen hi-def TVs and the NFL game package. Welcome to the brewery. Cheers!

Life is good, but...

For Dave and Rose Prasek, “Life is Good” is a complicated phrase. First, they bought Island Treasures, the “everything fun” store in Shops of Marco on South Barfield Drive near the Publix.

“At the time we took ownership four years ago this November, store sales were on a downward trend,” Dave says. “But that turned out to be our best year to date. It has continued to decline since then.”

So that is in the “Life is good, but” department.

Then there’s the fact that the Praseks are living in beautiful Marco Island. That, for them and many of us, translates to, “Life is Good, really.”

High on the list of good things is the fact that their son Ryan recently graduated from Florida State University and has a job in a field he loves, sports television production. That’s a “Life is Good, super.”

Down the list of priorities but still a fun factor at the shop is the “Life is Good” line of apparel.

“We have it, it’s popular, and we’re hoping to expand that.”

So what else counts as an “Island Treasure” available at Island Treasures, the store?

“We have items for both visitors and locals. We have Marco-named clothing and gifts, but we also have other items, shirts and shorts for ladies that don’t have the Marco Island name on them. And we carry a lot of picture frames, some with the Marco name, some without.

“What carries us is a lot of T-shirts, souvenir items, like the shot glasses and picture frames. We also have a lot of glassware, Dynasty Glassware, different potpourris and scents, books for kids, educational books about the seashells and fish, and birds of the area.”

Dave and Rose went to the wholesale gift show recently, as they do every year.

“We didn’t go as crazy as in past years, definitely bought more conservatively. We’re gearing up for season and hopefully we’ll get some more people in here and I’ll make some money to cover the bills.”

That would be in the “Life is Good, even better” category.

2wice As Nice offering a ‘thrice as nice’ Labor Day sale

Well, maybe our math is skewed, but the point is, Marco’s only upscale consignment shop for fine men and women’s clothing is going all out for the Labor Day weekend.

The super tag sale runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 4.

Clothes and accessories will be tagged, each color representing a special deal. Among the nine colors of good deals, for example, are yellow tagged items at 50 percent off, a purple tag will get you a 60 percent discount deal and so on.

A reminder: 2wice As Nice now has a men’s clothing department, enjoying its place among the ladies, um, things.

Another deal is, anyone who brings in designer handbags that are accepted for consignment will get 55 percent of the eventual sale price of those items. That offer expires Sept. 15.

2wice As Nice is at 291 S. Collier Blvd. Phone: (239) 389-0227.

Liz Claiborne closing at Prime Outlets mall

The Liz Claiborne outlet store up Collier Boulevard is closing, along with all of the brand’s other outlet stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The reason seems straightforward. The company notes it has had “meaningful operating losses” in its 87 outlet store operations.

A spokesman for the company said there’s no date certain for closing the doors, but that in the meantime, the store is offering deep discounts in its going-out-of-business sale.

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington DC, Atlanta and Houston. E-mail chris@chriscurle.com.

Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Fridays in the Naples Daily News. E-mail: don@donfarmer.com.