Footprints in the Sand
By Breanne Boland March 11, 2004 Issue

U.S. Highway 98 was a two-lane road when Footprints made its debut, and the store’s lot was roomy enough to have parking in the front.

Even a glance at it while driving by will give you a quick idea of how the area has expanded around the store. Their building is likely the oldest one in the area, dating back to the late 1940s, when it was a filling station owned by proprietor Janet Reeves’ in-laws. It doesn’t match its original design anymore, having expanded and renovated as Sandestin has, but its pedigree shows, because Footprints isn’t quite like anything else around here.

The Emerald Coast doesn’t lack beach stores. It suffers from an epidemic of them, really, big boxes with blaring top-40 music, garish neon, and all manner of souvenirs plastered with Destin but made thousands of miles away. “The tourists, they’re so glad to find us. They say, ‘We don’t want the chains, we have chains at home!’” says Reeves.

Footprints sells only beach-related things. They started with T-shirts and floats, way back in 1983, but moved into condo accessories due to customer requests. Half of their clientele is condo owners looking for decorations, and half is souvenir seekers looking for something that reminds them of their vacation without declaring exactly where it was purchased.

The store has some serious things, but most are, as Reeves describes, “fun and funky,” bright colored and informal, the better to remind people of their relaxing trips to the beach. “Everything in here is designed to make you smile,” she says. She’s obviously doing something right—the store has been in business for 21 years and has never had a sale. “People like what we have, and the prices are right,” she says. The store’s stock comes from about 500 vendors and wholesalers, a few of whom are local. A local woman makes some of the candles the store sells, and another resident sells prints of photographs of the area.

“Because we have so much, literally 90 percent of the people who walk in the door buy something,” Reeves says. “They find us in the phone book when they want shells or something like that, but then they spend a half hour roaming and picking things up. I’ve seen people stay an hour or more. You can’t see it in five minutes.”

“People become our friends when they come in here. We usually have fun with our customers. At other stores, people don’t even say hi when you walk in! With us, the customer comes first. No matter what we’re doing, we drop it and help them. People come first.” She sighs. “Other places, people don’t even say thank you when you check out anymore. They get trained on a register, and managers think, that’s it, they’re trained, but they ignore the people aspect.”

And the customers notice the difference. “We didn’t make our slogan,” Reeves says. “Our customers did. They’d come in and say, ‘Oh, this is the best little shop on the beach!’ People kept coming in, oohing and ahhing, saying that.” Finally, they decided to beat them to the punch and put it on their sign. Evidently, people are still saying it, because most of Footprints’ business comes through word of mouth. Customers tell their friends about the nice ladies in that nice little shop, and the Footprints fan base keeps growing.

It’s easy to see how people could spend an hour in the store. There are small displays around its perimeter, but even so, looking up or down can reveal a previously undiscovered nook of tiny objects of astonishing variety. Want a flamingo souvenir? You can have it in a statue, on a necklace, on mirrors, signs, lights, glasses, and candles. Perhaps something to immortalize the great time you had on a dolphin cruise? You can take one home in glass, ceramic, plastic, and resin, holding candles, mermaids, wine bottles, or you can have one very memorable one wearing a seashell bra and a grass skirt.

Footprints is a busy place right now between the two locations in Sandestin and Navarre Beach. Spring means new stock, and being open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, they’re still happy to be here, both in the store, and in the area. “We may be the last surviving old Florida shop,” she says wistfully. “Definitely the oldest building.” And, judging by the joy she still radiates when talking about her business, not likely to be going anywhere soon. To find out if Footprints has the treasure you seek, the Sandestin store number is 837-6711.

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