On a 7-mile-long island where the storefronts are meant to blend with neighboring cottages, it may be difficult for a business to stand out. But when entrepreneurship is in your DNA, like Island Charms Owner Lauren Collins, one doesn’t just own a jewelry store on Anna Maria Island and call it a day. To help Island Charms stand out, she even designed a product line to heighten the store’s allure.
When Collins arrived in Florida more than eight years ago, she learned that Libby’s Island Jewelry and Gifts was for sale.
“As soon as we moved to Florida, I started looking for a business to either open or purchase. And this one just sort of came about at the perfect time,” she says. “So, I moved into their shop and bought their fixtures, but I eventually changed every single thing about it and made it my own. It just took a little time to be able to do that.”
Although the store moved down the road nearly three years ago from its original location, Collins says it has kept its beach atmosphere.
A minimalistic approach
In an unassuming corner lot on Pine Avenue on the Florida island, tourists discover an airy boutique dedicated mostly to casual jewelry, but also an assortment of home accents and local artwork.
To draw customers in, Collins uses a statement table and other pieces like a rustic ladder filled with humorous tea towels to convince foot traffic that the store isn’t “just a jewelry store.” Meanwhile, open white shelving and another nearby table invite visitors to try on jewelry.
“We keep the space open so that you don’t feel overwhelmed because we have a huge range of inventory,” Collins says. “And we curate the jewelry display so that you can look up and down left and right, but you can still distinguish every piece of jewelry. But the store is light and calming and minimalistic.”
Of those who shuffle past the display cases filled with rings, necklaces, charms, bracelets and earrings, women on vacation stop most frequently and pull out their wallets.
“I would say that most of our customers are self-purchasing females,” Collins notes. “They come in and they’re not they’re not afraid to buy themselves a gift — a necklace or a ring. We keep our price point to where people feel that it’s okay to spend money on themselves. Even buying jewelry does not have to break the bank.”
With six cases filled with fashion and fine jewelry, Collins hopes everyone can find something — even the hard-to-buy-for men, who seem to gravitate to Axion bracelets.
Among the heavy hitters in her lineup are Plata sterling silver from a Florida-based business, Dune Jewelry, whose popularity is attributed to each piece being filled with Anna Maria Island sand and Kovel Collection for its coastal themes.
For the price conscious, one item she just can’t seem to keep in stock is a $5 rope bracelet that anyone can purchase — including little girls who love the beach and have impeccable taste in jewelry, she says with a smile.
And when a touch of the ordinary just won’t do, Collins Fine Jewelry (CFJ) is waiting in the wings to “wow” guests with sustainable earrings, charms, necklaces, bracelets and rings that feature lab-grown diamonds.
Most notable in the CFJ collection is a nod to gold jewelry, Collins notes.
“A lot of people are transitioning to yellow gold,” she says. “I don’t want to say it’s trending, but it’s starting to come back.”
More to explore
Elsewhere in the store, another experience awaits at the permanent jewelry station — something Collins notes that has remained fairly popular over the last year.
This clasp-free jewelry allows customers to pick their favorite style chain for a necklace, bracelet or anklet and top it off with charms that tell the story of their life’s journey. It is then permanently affixed using a micro- welder.
“They select their chain and then they sit there and they get to have their own experience inside this little space,” she explains.
Tucked in the back of the store, another gem awaits — a mini apparel shop. T-shirts and sun shirts float effortlessly on metal posts against a steel-blue backdrop, while crisp, white track lights call attention to the simple outline of Anna Maria Island on each item.
The shirts are sustainably made and are the family’s own product line called Unwind — meant to be reminiscent of how they feel when they cross the bridge from the mainland to the island. Launched in 2023, it’s the only apparel in the store.
Collins encourages seaside retailers to go with what they know in thier business. “Stay true to yourself,” she recommends. “Offer things that people want to buy, but also have that vision that you stick to.”
Collins also aims to sell her CFJ line wholesale. It’s a far cry from the peanut-shell jewelry she made as a child in her garage, but it’s proof that a business mindset and the freedom to dream not only fills the shelves of her store, but soon other stores as well.
