Golf can wait – at least for now. Antiques are so much more fun.
So, Laura Sanderson has put her golf career on hold, and has set up shop at Shabby Shack Antiques & Vintage.
The shop’s name is a twist on the Bill Murray movie, “Caddyshack,” a classic comedy about what else – golf.
But, let’s forget golf for the moment.
Inside Shabby Shack, antiques and collectibles fill the floors, nooks and crannies of seven rooms.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)
The wares are from personal family treasures, garage sales and thrift stores.
“This has been a passion of my whole family, collecting antiques and unusual things,” said Sanderson. “I’m at a point in my career when it was good to put it on pause, and go for it,” Sanderson said.
She is the new owner of the former Family Treasures’ property. That long-time business on Land O’ Lakes Boulevard bought and sold coins, metal detectors and collectibles.
The location also once operated as an antique shop, known as Calamity Jane.
Shabby Shack, at 4312 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., is stepping out with its own sense of style.
Sanderson asked her family members to “thin out” their antiques at home, and bring them to Shabby Shack.
On weekends, she also combs through garage sales and thrift shops on the lookout for the one-of-a-kind item.
“It’s not straight antiques. I have modern too, if it’s unusual,” she said. “I like things that have form and function.”
Her favorites are art deco and mid-century Modern.
In her spare time, she goes creative and repurposes what seems to have lost its function. An old camera with a flash attachment, for instance, becomes a lamp. Map pages from an atlas become the foundation for wreaths.
A large, wooden biplane hangs from a ceiling, waiting for its transformation.
“It would be the perfect lamp hanging over a pool table,” said Sanderson, who is a graduate of Brandon High School.
She began playing golf as a youngster, but didn’t become a professional golfer until age 40.
She worked for more than 25 years as a golf pro at area country clubs, including The Groves and Meadow Oaks.
She moved to Land O’ Lakes about six years ago.
Shabby Shack is in a spot along U.S. 41 that Sanderson hopes is ready for redevelopment.
“I believe in Land O’ Lakes,” she said. “I so badly want to see something happen along U.S. 41.”
And, she’s eager for Shabby Shack to be a part of that transformation.
On a mid-day on Tuesday, Land O’ Lakes resident Margaret Dillard dropped by to purchase a pulley. She had her eye on it for a few days.
“I don’t know where you’re shopping (for antiques), but you’re getting some mighty nice things,” she told Sanderson.
Dillard said she enjoys the surprises that can be found at Shabby Shack. The shop caters to all tastes from rustic to elegant, she said.
Sanderson said her goal at the shop is to “turn, turn, turn. I want new truckloads every week. I don’t want stale inventory.”
Merchandise generally is priced on the lower end of the scale, from $3 to $200.
Sanderson’s husband helps with lawn maintenance around the property, which also has a smaller building in the rear. Sanderson hopes to rent that out, possibly for another antiques space.
For now, Shabby Shack is pretty much a one-woman show.
“I’m just stepping out on a leap of faith,” Sanderson said.
What: Shabby Shack Antiques & Vintage
Where: 4312 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Information: (813) 501-4900
Published November 18, 2015
