Jul 15, 2009

Hammerhead’s Ace Hardware in Largo operates a gift shop, tooBy Christina K. CosdonTampaBay.com

There’s no sign outside that says so, but Hammerhead’s Ace Hardware has a double identity.

It’s a spacious hardware and garden store, but it’s also home to a glamorous gift shop with everything from whimsical wall clocks and baby clothes to high-end handcrafted serveware and crystal oil lamps.

Women often find it by accident when they begrudgingly tag along with their husbands looking for drill bits and electrical tape.

When the store opened in fall 2005, Rick Kinney of Seminole wanted to stop in and look around. His wife went along for the visit and was surprised to find a large gift shop with wood flooring at the front of the store.

“I didn’t make it any further that day,” Amber Kinney said.

She’s been a regular customer ever since, shopping there at least once a month to see what’s new.

“I like the selections. There’s a nice variety of things you don’t find everywhere else,” she said.

Karen Baldwin of Belleair Beach stopped by the store when it opened because she was curious, she said. When she saw the gift shop, “it was wow, such a surprise and a delight to the senses.”

The shop, Baldwin said, “is like a retail amusement park that you can get lost in while weaving in and out of the different display vignettes.” There’s a calm feeling there, she said, and “it’s so deliciously pleasant.”

“No matter what I’m looking for — a gift for my great aunt or my neighbor, and whether I want to spend a lot or a little — I can find it there,” Baldwin said.

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