Some places are simply meant to be. Julia Duytschaver can attest to the unexplainable staying power of the third-generation Original Sand Dollar in Holmes Beach, Florida.
From navigating the pandemic to rebuilding by hand after Hurricane Helene nearly razed the shop and flooded it with salty, sandy water, the shop lives on as an ever-present Anna Maria Island establishment.
Duytschaver rewinds to 2020 when she and her husband, Shawn, found out his family’s former business was closing. His grandparents started it in 1960 and passed it to the next generation. He spent years working alongside his parents before opening his own store across the street.
When his parents eventually decided to retire and sell, the next local owner sustained the kitschy souvenir vibe with collectibles, crafts and favorites like Russell Stover candies. She exited quietly in 2020, deciding to not renew the lease. She sold off all the inventory.
Then the Duytschavers found out. They were shocked — but also moved.
At Original Sand Dollar, dynamic tablescapes are eye candy with layers of coastal offerings. The store is full of out-of-the-box presentations of sea-themed decor, driftwood and more enticing customers to buy.
Photos: Lori Sax
“My husband said, ‘Let’s do it,’” says Julia Duytschaver. This swiftly advanced to closing a deal in 2020 and opening 10 days before the pandemic shutdown. She admits, taking over the Original Sand Dollar meant “big shoes to fill because it’s been here forever.”
She also had a vision to maintain the store’s treasure-trove experience while curating collections of coastal gifts, home decor, apparel and jewelry that differentiate it from other local shops that lean toward name drop. “We started from scratch,” she says, foreshadowing another theme: resilience and rebuilding.
Memorable and modernized
When the previous owner turned the shop over to Duytschaver to continue an island legacy, “She was so grateful it was coming back to the family,” relates Duytschaver.
The same Holmes Beach family that had been landlord when the store first opened was still the building’s landlord.
In many ways, the next chapter for Original Sand Dollar felt like a reunion. Duytschaver also wanted to make her mark on its decades-long retail story.
“It’s important for me to find something different,” she says of products in every category, from tableware to apparel. On a deadline with aspirations to open within a few months for spring visitors, she reinvented the shop, Shawn managing display buildouts and interior updates. The store reopened in March 2020 only to shutter for the pandemic just two weeks in business.
Duytschaver says, “This gave us an opportunity to continue building up merchandise. We worked so hard to get the store open for the season so this gave us more time to work on the shop.”
A fish teapot alongside some teacups seems fitting at Original Sand Dollar.
Shawn runs a business called Surferbus that offers kayak and paddleboard rentals, so rainy days are slow, which is the opposite at Original Sand Dollar. This balance allows the couple to juggle roles.
When the shop greeted customers again in April 2020, many regulars didn’t know the previous owner had sold and closed. “When they came in, it looked like a different store,” she says.
The Original Sand Dollar is very much a “happy place” for visitors and locals who are personally greeted by “the Sand Dollar girls,” now longtime employees and a tight-knit band of the same returning college students who contribute display ideas and provide an experience Duytschaver calls relatable.
“We just love to be here,” she says, adding that when visitors return to the shop, “Customers feel remembered. I may not remember why I walked into a room, but I remember a customer who was excited about a new grandbaby!”
Expect the uncommon
While Duytschaver works directly with wholesalers and finds products online, she mostly relies on trusted sales reps at Uncommon Fashion. She enlisted in their expertise when she reopened the store five years ago. “They protect my best interests,” she says of maintaining exclusivity.
For apparel, Duytschaver keeps clothing classy and “appropriate.”
“I try to be body conscious,” she says, pointing to the popular lines Blue Ivy and LaBiz, with versatile appeal for teens to ladies in their 60s and up. “We sell a lot of maxi dresses, rompers, summer wear. The biggest thing during the past year has been matching sets.”
Those include sweatshirts and shorts, lounge pants and tank tops, and all kinds of rompers. Duytschaver points to a coastal set with big blue-and-white stripes — a nautical score for beachgoers.
Plateware and decor are popular, including pieces from Creative Co-Op, Tableau and Kalalou. Unbreakable, dishwasher safe Melamine serving plates also appeal to customers.
Duytschaver also introduced floating hippos that are a hit. Sometimes, you try and customers buy.
Last year, Duytschaver added a display of nostalgic wooden birds, some positioned on stands — seagulls, sandpipers, pelicans and the like. “They’re perfect for a bookshelf,” she says.
Customers love tropical fish-themed serveware at Original Sand Dollar.
Colorful, beaded jewelry by Ink-Alloy have coastal-tribal flair. Meanwhile, art pieces range from inspirational wooden word signs to watercolor to pieces washed with island themes, from sea turtles and flamingos to vintage surf images.
Throughout the store, there’s look-at-that wonder that encourages customers to touch and take home.
Impulse buys abound with palm-sized beaded pouches, ceramic coasters, party napkins, holiday ornaments, wooden word keychains, candles, drinkware and more.
Duytschaver along with her sales reps and longtime employees, Gillian Crago and Kate Fuchs, hunt for select products as a team to stock items that are decidedly Original Sand Dollar and not what other nearby shops offer. “It’s so nice to have colleagues you really trust,” she notes.
Joy in the ‘in between’
This level of trust and community helped Original Sand Dollar sustain a devastating blow when Hurricane Helene hit Holmes Beach on Sept. 26 last year and about six feet of storm surge blanketed the town.
The Duytschavers have boarded up their home and store before, but they never experienced a storm of this magnitude.
The shop lost $80,000 in inventory and fixtures. “Everything in here felt sticky with salt — we had to wash everything, cut up the floors and we did all the work ourselves,” says Duytschaver.
Duytschaver displays a poster with pictures of the damage, the renovation process and the Sand Dollar girls and friends who helped restore a business that was meant to be. While the interior and products suffered tremendous damage, the shop itself did not wash away.
“I always say, we find joy in the ‘in between,’” relates Duytschaver.
That in-between time amounted to 40 days. “We were sweaty, wet and we had fun — we kept the stories going on social media,” she says. “An outpouring of people brought food, and the biggest thing we needed were storage tubs. We got a PODS.”
An assortment of coastal decor and serveware make for a great display.
During this time, Duytschaver says retailers were out helping and working together. “I got to know more store owners because we never usually leave our shops,” she quips. “If someone else was open and we weren’t, we’d do pop-up shops.”
Original Sand Dollar was one of the first to reopen. “I said, ‘We weren’t lucky. We made our own luck,’” relates Duytschaver of the team rallying to renovate.
As of early 2025, Original Sand Dollar was the only store open on its strip open aside from a pizza place. Life, travel and traffic are finally returning to normal.
“Every day is better and better,” she says, grateful for the team and community’s support, and for the encouraging Facebook comments and emails saying, “We’re rooting for you!”
Surely, the Original Sand Dollar will have many more stories to tell.
