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Salvaging A Business

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

Published: November 5, 2008

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - She grew up learning retail in the aisles of her family's Ohio grocery store; he grew up in Texas with a penchant for taking things apart to find out how they work.

Together in Florida, Amy and Charles Haynie found a perfect outlet for their talents: Tampa Street Market. The eclectic shop, 4715 N. Florida Ave., sports eco-friendly furniture creations and a cornucopia of recycled, re-imagined housewares and furnishings.

The furniture, in a mix of classic designs and functional art, comes from the Haynies.

"We have to conceive it and work it together," said Charles Haynie, who commutes weekdays to his engineering job in Sarasota. "I'm more of a builder. Amy's more of a painter."

A walnut bench and a cypress table were featured in "It Isn't Easy Being Green," an exhibit on sustainable living at the Tampa Museum of Art.

They fill their shop with recycled and fair trade goods from companies they find on the Internet or at trade shows. What some might see as junk or trash are building blocks for new businesses.

Recycled telephone wire crafted by disabled Vietnamese workers into brightly colored baskets comes from the nonprofit SPIRAL Foundation. Goblets and tumblers come from old wine, beer and soda bottles reshaped by The Green Glass Co.

Other entrepreneurs make beach bags from companies' vinyl logo banners, small soft purses from plastic bottles and stationery from elephant dung.

The Haynies rummage through flea markets, salvage yards, estate sales and antique shops for their materials.

"We pick pieces of furniture, take them apart and rebuild them," Amy Haynie said. "It's creativity."

An old chicken coop mounted on rollers and overlaid with glass becomes a coffee table. An 1800s armoire base is topped with hot rolled steel. A salvaged piece of cypress caps a 1960s-style aluminum tulip base.

"This stuff is not for everybody, but if you love it, you really love it," Charles Haynie said. "We try to push the envelope."

The Seminole Heights couple started by doing customized furniture and painting for friends who would then refer their friends.

But Charles Haynie thought, "Maybe we can make money at this."

They opened in two rooms of the former Covivant Gallery on Florida, next to Cappy's Pizza. Two years later, a plan to expand fell through, and the couple opted to close shop but continue building furniture.

Six months ago, a cafe at Osborne and Florida avenues closed, one in a long line of eateries that over the years never seemed to take hold. At 1,200 square feet, the shop is double the space available at Covivant.

"We really wanted to stay in Seminole Heights," Amy Haynie said. "It's like a big social thing for us."

They see their shop, not the restaurants, as a better business fit for two next-door antique shops. An open door links Tampa Street Market with Seminole Heights Antique Mall.

"It's definitely a destination," Charles Haynie said. "I've had a lot of positive feedback. We're always talking about how things can be successful in working together."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Tampa Street Market

WHERE: 4715 N. Florida Ave.

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

CONTACT: (813) 236-4900 or www.tampastreet market.com

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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