St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District, already full of boutique, independent restaurants, bars, and retail outlets, has attracted another unique business in the form of Hostess, a micro-event space and gift shop set in a 1950s bungalow and created by owners Shelby Pletcher and Michelle Whiting, who cultivated an air of mystery around the establishment prior to its opening this week at 2635 Central Avenue.

“We’ve been very vague about everything thus far,” Pletcher says, “But honestly, it was pretty unintentional. We’ve just been working overtime to get the space ready and didn't have the manpower to devote to marketing. Instead, we decided to soft open first and then launch marketing once images of Hostess were ready.”

Whiting and Pletcher, though, are known quantities. They own a clothing store called Canvas Fashion Gallery that has locations on 4th Street North in St. Pete and in Tampa’s Hyde Park Village. But Hostess, which will offer grab-and-go food, as well as wine and beer, for small gatherings, is a significant departure.

Opening on Thursday, November 10th, at 655 Central Avenue, The Canary Home & Gift is the creation of Allie Padin, who studied art in college and has brought an artist’s sensibility to The Canary’s creatively curated collection of merchandise, which runs the gamut from furniture, rugs, and light fixtures, to gifts for all ages such as puzzles, picture frames, tablewares, coffee table books, toys, specialty food items, and much more.

“Gift giving is an art,” Padin says. “Receiving gifts has always been a bit complicated for me, but I absolutely love looking for and giving personal and unique gifts to others. It’s a joke in our family that whenever you get a gift, before you’re allowed to peel back the wrapping paper, you have to hear all the zany little anecdotes about the procuring of the gift from the giver… what happened when they were trying to park, who they ran into inside the store, how they accidentally swapped their shopping bags, etc. These are all the wonderful little things that happen with shopping at small businesses in your town, which is something we should all take pride in!”