Spotlight | Legendary Ladies of St. Armands

By Sylvia Whitman | Photos by Nancy Guth | August 2022

This October, the upscale women’s boutique Foxy Lady celebrates 50 years in business. Across St Armands Circle, Oh My Gauze!, is going strong at age 35+. Yet the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that roughly 20% of new businesses fail in their first two years, 45% in their first five. Only 25% survive beyond 15. According to the doyennes behind these two long-lived retail establishments on St. Armands Key, the secret sauce of success varies, but common ingredients include hard work they love, family and staff support, and a deep understanding of what their customers like and want.

Foxy Lady

Founder Lorry Eible moved to Sarasota with her sons, Edward and Bryan, in early 1972. A third generation hairdresser and salon owner from Chester, NJ—her famous grandfather had styled the rich and famous on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, creating the first highlighting bleach and making the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar—Eible was looking for change. Despite the success of her salons, Eible had grown allergic to many hair products and tired of long hours. “I knew another career was waiting for me,” she says.

Within her original salon, she had operated a small boutique. After enrolling her boys in school, she began to hunt for a possible location for a store. Poking around Siesta Key, she discovered a “cute little café,” Anna’s Deli, and next door to it, a dilapidated cottage. She queried the owner and found that it would soon be for rent. 

She opened the Siesta Key store there on October 23, 1972, her younger son’s birthday, and christened it Foxy Lady, after the famous Jimmy Hendrix song. Within a decade, she had outgrown the cottage. Builder John Walter, her then boyfriend who would later become her husband, constructed a new, bigger and better store. Two years later, he found a property on St. Armands Circle, an abandoned gas station, and built the flagship shop at 481 John Ringling Boulevard.

What was your vision for Foxy Lady?

My concept was to dress a woman from head to toe—bathing suits, shoes, trousers, sportswear. The first store was only about 1200 square feet, but it had a little bit of everything. That’s how it all started. It just kept going until we had the bigger store, which was quite a bit bigger, about 3300 square feet. We incorporated a lot of other things—jewelry, more shoes, evening wear. Back then, a lot of professional women such as Realtors, doctors, and attorneys had no place to shop. We attracted more professional women—attorneys, doctors.

Who are your customers now?

I have customers who started with me in the ‘70s who are now bringing their granddaughters in to buy prom dresses. We have two and three generations of shoppers. People follow us on Facebook; they follow us on Instagram. They come down from other states for the season, and I hear, “Do you know that I haven’t even gone to open my house yet? I came here first. I wanted to get a few things so I’ll have something to wear this week.” Anyone in business who stays in business has to have a loyal clientele. 

What creates that loyalty?

A lot of things. But mostly it’s the labels we carry, along with product knowledge and really good service. 

We have a tremendous inventory, with new arrivals daily. Women know they’ll see fresh items every time they shop with us. Having a hairdresser background really helped me to understand and hear what women want. 

We always want to know where people are going when they are shopping for an event, whether it be a wedding, social event, or just traveling. I always ask the customer, “What do you envision yourself feeling and looking like?” Some answer, “I want to just blend in.” Others say, “I want to wow the room.” We listen to what they want so our service is on target.

I would say that 80% of the stores that I walk into, I’m totally ignored. Someone’s on the phone. Somebody’s talking to a friend or gossiping about what happened last night. This is a pet peeve of mine. Although we’re not perfect, we monitor this carefully. As a result, we hear very often, “I love the one-on-one attention I got today” or “Your staff is so helpful.” That’s what I want to hear.

A woman should feel fantastic when she walks into a clothing store—and not intimidated. Stores are overwhelming. Our big things are making customers know that we are there to point them in the right direction and to help them find exactly what they’re looking for. And they do know that. We hear it over and over and over again. We get letters all the time of how the wedding went and how fabulous everybody looked. And their trip to Italy turned out to be so great thanks to us and the beautiful wardrobe we’ve put together. 

Sometimes we have three generations of customers in the store at the same time. We want everyone to feel welcomed and comfortable at Foxy Lady. 

Can you say more about the “we” in Foxy Lady?

The “we” is all the support and relationships with customers and staff through the years. My mom worked with me in my first store and continued until she retired. When I grew into my larger Siesta Key store, I had 5-7 ladies working with me. After opening the St. Armand’s store, we had 6-8 more. You can have the most beautiful clothes in the world, but if you don’t have people who work with you who understand your vision and your expectations, you have nothing.

Our staff and management team doesn’t change much. Some employees have been with me for 25-45 years. My son, Bryan, at one point was my partner at our Siesta store until his life did a 360 and he moved to New Zealand. But then came Lori Ann Steiner, who started with me at 18 and has been my partner for the past 14 years. 

And not to forget the late John Walter, my husband, who supported me every step of the way. Without him I wouldn’t have such beautiful stores.

I couldn’t do any of this without my family and friend, who have been with me for every up and down through 50 years.

Oh My Gauze!

Joy Mooney opened Oh My Gauze! (originally named Down to Earth) more than three decades ago after her husband’s aerospace company transferred him from California to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. A nutritionist by training, she wondered, “What am I going to do in this cute little town?” 

She missed the comfy cotton clothes she’d picked up on trips to Mexico from the West Coast. Lake Geneva attracted tourists, so Mooney found an inexpensive storefront to rent near the water—$100 a month—and filled it with gauzy loungewear. Her husband, Ken, handled the books. Daughters Allison and Kendra helped out as schoolwork allowed. Traffic slowed during long, frigid winters, but locals still packed for cruises and Florida vacations. Every other store was selling sweaters.

“It just got bigger,” says Mooney. “People like the clothes. So now we have people—we  call them Gauze Groupies.” 

It occurred to Mooney and family that maybe they should follow the snowbirds. After a couple of years growing the Wisconsin store, they left a manager in charge and made a scouting trip to Siesta Key—right in the midst of a hurricane. “Nothing was open, and it was awful. Limbs down. At the hotel, all these people canceled, but we didn’t know.” Still, they found a store. Renting a condo sight unseen, they made the move.

Allison, a computer graphics major who had just graduated from college, came down to Florida to help with the setup. She never left. Older daughter, Kendra, with a degree in merchandising, followed about a month later. She stayed, too. In 1994, Oh My Gauze! opened a St. Armands Key store (locations have changed a couple of times). There’s another shop in Naples. 

Both sisters work in the shop on St. Armands Circle. Their husbands manage the warehouse. The clan all lives within about four miles of Joy and Ken’s home on Bird Key. Allison’s son is heading off to college to study business, a possible third generation shopkeeper in the wings.

What’s the story behind the store name?

We came up with Oh My Gauze! because that’s what we sell. 

You said your friends would come in and be like Oh My Gauze!

It’s just a funny name. It’s better than saying Joy’s boutique. Customers take pictures of our sign all the time because it’s so crazy.

Where do you get your clothes?

I found my first manufacturer in Guadalajara. Then we found someone else who would do our designs, too, because sometimes we design the clothes ourselves. We get inspired by other looks. There’s an Oh My Gauze! label, and we wholesale. We sell to maybe 600 boutiques across the United States and Canada.

You have to look at a lot cotton to find the good material. We found that out. We bring it home, and we test it. We all wear it and wash it and dry it and make sure it looks the same. All natural. It’s been boiled so you can put it in the wash. No shrinking. No ironing.

We have another line that we’ve carried for years, from Europe, a little more dressy. Linen. And we have fun jewelry, from Africa, New Mexico, other places. Artists make a lot of it, one of a kind. 

Have you ever made any mistakes?

We did order a couple lines that we didn’t like that much. That’s normal. Everybody does that. 

We decorated a lot. We like to look kind of fun rather than like a store. Some of the things we’ve done were better than others, right? We can’t get rid of that chandelier because it won’t fit through the door.

Who does the selling?

I’m the one who talks to the customers a lot because I’m a talker. I used to work every day. Now I just work in the morning. I just get tired sometimes, and you’re not good when you’re tired. My daughters know what to do now. 

Also, we have really good employees who do their job. That’s why people request them. “I’m going on a cruise. Pick out an outfit for me.” Our employees stay with us for a long time. They’re from all walks of life, which makes it interesting. 

Not every family can run a business together. How do you do it?

If I get mad, it only lasts for a couple of minutes. My daughters both know what they’re good at, and they do it. Kendra’s in charge of jewelry and merchandising, like window displays. Allison’s good with a lot of artwork in here, and she sells with me.

Any idea what the future might hold?

You never know what’s going to happen. Our Lake Geneva store closed in 2021. You get disappointed if you plan. 

We’re lucky that we have our own lines. During the pandemic, sales were slower, but we were selling online. And people wanted comfortable clothes. 

Now that the doors are open again, we’re not going to change our direction. We love being part of the circle.