Sea Bird Gifts & Candy shop is now open in Westport’s Marina District. Located at 2563 Westhaven Drive, right next door to the Fish Shack, opened last week. Owned and operated by Paul Bird, she and her husband Jack purchased the two-story building last August.
One of Paula’s first projects was to turn the former monthly rental apartment upstairs into a vacation rental retreat.
Bird has been also busy since the purchase remodeling the retail space interior, adding new flooring and painting throughout.
Lots of goodies
She has now filled the space with a wide variety of beachy-themed items, including casual clothing, jewelry, toys, home décor items and candy, candy and more candy.
Look for wind chimes and sun catchers, picture frames, candles, figurines, a wide variety of whimsical signs in various shapes and sizes, carvings, glass art, fluffy souvenir beach towels and more.
There’s lots of casual clothing, including tees, tops, hoodies, sweatshirts, caps and hats. Don’t miss the ‘Bad to the Bone’ hoodie and the Westport Ale Tees.
The kids’ corner is chock full of items for the younger set, from clothing to toys and fuzzy little stuffed critters – some of which are two-fers – turning inside out to become a second cuddly animal with a flick of the wrist.
Sweet tooth? You’re covered!
Sea Bird Gifts & Candy offers 60 varieties of saltwater taffy, including all your traditional favorites, as well as a nice selection of the unexpected – get brave and try flavors like maple bacon, extreme hot and cupcake.
Fudge comes in several varieties and there are lots of dipped chocolates to choose from, including some sugar free options.
New adventure
Paula is new to retail business ownership, having spent the past eight years as one of the friendly faces behind the deli counter in the Aberdeen Safeway store, and working as a partner with her husband in Sea Bird Fisheries.
Due to worsening major back problems, she took a leave of absence from Safeway to undergo back surgery last January, which was highly successful. After a long recovery, Paula decided to make a major life change.
“I decided to move onward to this next adventure in this amazing life that has been given back to me,” she said. Bird says she has thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the work she’s done to open her store, from the remodeling to purchasing items for the shop to filling the space and now actually opening her own business.
Seven days a week
Starting tomorrow, Sea Bird Gifts & Candy will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Be sure to stop by and welcome Paula to the South Beach business community and to see what she offers for sale.