Business & Tech
You’nique Boutique Adding a Touch of Color Downtown
With one new sign in place, another one on the way and a picket fence being painted along the side, this Main Street gift shop is doing its part to brighten up the district.
Being a longtime resident of the area, Josh Vellucci knows what works and what doesn’t in Safety Harbor.
In fact, one of the main reasons he and his partners opened the You’nique Boutique in September was because he believed their brand of art would fit in nicely with the themes and feel of downtown.
But it wasn’t enough for Josh and his partners to just stuff the shop full of eclectic, original handmade and repurposed items — they wanted the outside of the shop to be as colorful as the inside.
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“We wanted to bring a little color and life to the block,” he said.
And with the latest additions to the store, they have succeeded in doing just that.
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About a month ago, Vellucci, along with partner Vicky Hendry, went to members of their Center of Hope ministry in Clearwater and asked them to put some ideas to paper.
Only after the images were completed did they tell the men what they were for — a painted picket fence that ran alongside their shop.
“We got about 10 of the guys together and told them to come up with ideas, but we didn’t tell them what it was for,” Vellucci said.
“We had a drawing to see who could draw,” Hendry added.
“The next day we told them to come out to our shop and paint their ideas on the fence, “Vellucci said.
Each participant then got a three-picket slice to transfer his or her ideas onto a wooden canvas.
The results can be seen on the fence on the corner of Main Street and Third Avenue South, where Vellucci and Hendry are now filling in the blank pickets with ideas of their own.
“I started doing the (Florida) Gators one on Saturday,” Vellucci said of the pickets dedicated to his favorite college football team. “It’s almost done now.”
In addition to the fence, You’nique Boutique is sporting a new, colorful sign on the front facade of the building, and Vellucci says there will be similar signage on the Third Street facade soon.
It’s all part of their plan to bring a little more color to the area.
“If you look around, the post office has a mural, the sidewalks are painted. We feel like this fits in nicely with where we’re located.”
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