Trio of New Businesses Opens on Main Street

As we prepare to ring in the New Year in the midst of celebrating local businesses that opened in 2012, there are three new places set to add to the recent growth on Main Street.

Following up a recent article about new development on the east end of Main Street, two of the three places are now open and one will be joining them shortly.

Agartha Books, a spiritual bookshop that also sells vitamins, CDs and other items associated with the AMORC Rosicrucian philosophy, recently opened in the Harbor House building at 101 Main Street.

Next door to the bookstore, Anita Martin is feverishly working to open her ladies fitness apparel store, Lola’s Laces.

“My husband and I are excited to open this business in a terrific town like Safety Harbor,” Martin said during a break in remodeling. “We love this area, and we can’t wait to open.” 

Martin, a former long distance runner and cancer survivor with a passion for fitness, says her shop should be ready for a soft opening in mid-January, followed by a grand opening sometime in February.

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Just across the street from those two shops, popular watering hole the Bar Fly unveiled its adjacent expansion, the Saltwater Grill, last week.

The new eatery, a colorful, café style raw bar specializing in seafood items, is now open and utilizing a flexible menu as owners Jeff and Celeste Harrell get the new venture off the ground.

“We're serving shrimp, clams, crabs and some of the freshest oysters around,” Celeste Harrell said. "And we've been told our shrimp quesadillas are out of this world."

"We're adding new menu items every day," she added. "We want to bring the people what they want."

These new businesses, combined with the Harbor Key town home development on the west end of Main Street, the eventual opening of the waterfront park and the upcoming relocation of the Main Street Market, should give downtown Safety Harbor a bold new look in 2013 and beyond. 

“We’re encouraged by new businesses opening up and investments pouring in to the downtown area,” community development director Matt McLachlan said recently. “It’s been a remarkable transformation these last couple of years.”

So Harborites, what do you think of all the growth in the downtown district? Let us know how you feel in the comments below.