The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 11 No. 28 - April 13, 2011

BUSINESS

Island's three Egrets define coastal look

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

SUN PHOTO/LOUISE BOLGER
Left to right: Barbara Jaeger, John Jaeger and
Sue Hallenbeck and dogs Buddy, Peanut and
Lucky greet customers at the Island's three Egret stores.

Individuals become legends when they inspire others, but can a non human entity be a legend? Why not, especially if the entity is the inspired creation of an individual.

When Barbara and John Jaeger moved to Anna Maria from Wisconsin in 2000 after years of vacationing here, they never imagined that 11 years later they would be the owners of three retail stores plus an interior decorating business. With Barbara Jaeger providing the artistic inspiration and John Jaeger providing the organizational inspiration, they have built their business from the ground up offering everything from greeting cards to complete interior design services.

Helping the Jaegers manage their three shops and 13 employees, is their daughter Sue Hallenbeck who now spends most of her time on Anna Maria learning all aspects of the business with an eye toward an eventual permanent relocation with her family. Also keeping everyone on track relative to growth and management is their assistant Barbara Yost.

December of last year was the 10th anniversary of the original shop the Jaegers opened at the tip of Anna Maria. During those years they have established a customer base comprised of locals, visitors, builders and seasonal residents stretching from Anna Maria Island to Lakewood Ranch down to Sarasota and Venice. Barbara Jaeger says that the Egret shops have become an all day event for some shoppers, buzzing around from one to the other to get a glimpse of new merchandise, decorating ideas, gifts to take home and giving their three dogs a little scratch on the head along the way.

Although all three shops are distinctive on their own, they all have the thread of the coast running through them and Barbara Jaeger's extraordinary taste. The White Egret in Anna Maria continues to offer home accessories including an exclusive line of C & F linens and bedding. You can also find glassware, dishes, servers, candles, lamps, pictures and small pieces of furniture.

If you're looking for gifts and boutique items, you'll find it right next door at The Egret's Nest. Casual Island clothes by Not Your Daughter's Jeans and Color Me Cotton as well as footwear, Mary Frances handbags, jewelry, greeting cards and great little items tucked away in all the corners of the shop.

The third shop in the Egret family is The Egret's Landing in Holmes Beach which carries spectacular coastal home furnishings and offers complete interior decorating services. The decorating service has grown extensively over the last four years and their status as a dealer for both Stanley and Lexington furniture allows them to be competitive priced and also to obtain delivery in a timely manner. If you love the coastal look and Coastal Living Magazine you will be in heaven at The Egret's Landing.

Barbara and John Jaeger and Sue Hallenbeck pride themselves on working closely with their clients and understanding their needs while offering a laid back shopping experience. They are continually educating themselves through attending eight to 10 markets a year to view and purchase new inventory, as well as reviewing literature and working with vendors who call on the store.

This is a family business and with the help of their staff a true team effort. All of the Egrets intend to be on Anna Maria for a long time providing services and merchandise to their customers who come back year after year. The possibility of Internet shopping is being looked into so that seasonal residents and visitors can have access to all three Egrets' line of merchandise. The entire family and staff want to thank all of their customers and clients for supporting them for the past 10 years and helping to grow their business.

In addition to contributing to the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society, Sue Hallenbeck in particular supports the 3/50 Project. The 3/50 Project encourages shoppers to support and do business with independently owned businesses helping to save local economies. She points out that for every $100 spent in independently owned stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures.

What can you say about a legend? After 10 years on Anna Maria, The White Egret and its two other offspring are without a doubt legendary in the community. Get that coastal feel by visiting all three locations for an eye popping experience plus a hearty dose of inspiration.

The White Egret
Home Accessories

10006 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria
941-778-3782

The Egret's Nest
Boutique & Gifts

10010 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria
941-778-8406

The Egret's Landing Home Furnishings
& Interior Decorating Services

5602 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach
941-778-2878

Monday-Saturday:
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday: Noon – 5 p.m.
The Egret's Landing is closed on Sunday

American Express, Discover,
MasterCard & Visa

 

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

Climbing a wall of worry

Investment Corner

My last article, which appeared on March 23, was hurriedly prepared in the days following the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant problems in Japan. My goal was to provide some reasoning for not panicking if the world's stock markets struggled following that event because I believed the effects would be temporary.

More temporary than I envisioned as it turns out. About 10 days after the disaster occurred, the U.S. stock market had already regained all the ground lost on the quake news, and then some. Even the Japanese market, which absorbed an 18 percent drubbing, has made a good effort at recovery.

If, six months ago, we held a group discussion about what would happen to stock prices if we were to see revolutions occurring in Egypt and Libya, social unrest in several other Middle Eastern countries, a huge earthquake and nuclear incident impacting the world's third largest economy, what would have been our prediction about where the levels of the stock market might be? For sure lower, and probably substantially so, would have been a popular guess.

So much for predictions! And that's the lesson here. No one has ever been able to accurately predict the short-term action of the financial markets on a consistent basis. We shouldn't try. But, of course, we all love to talk about the state of the world and our own country, and then extrapolate those opinions into a market prediction. Unfortunately, this process rarely works out well for anyone.

At the moment, it appears (and no, this is not a forecast!) that the stock market's resilience in the face of a steady stream of bad news is what we call "climbing a wall of of worry." In the past, the stock market has tended to surprise the majority of investors by doing the opposite of what the majority intuitively believe will and should happen. In other words, when there are things to worry about, the market seems to do well, sometimes above average.

Alas, when we all start to see nothing but good news on the TV and newspaper, and we believe the good times are here to stay – Bam! We get slapped in the face with a declining market. We could call this phase "sliding down the wall of confidence."

As I think back on my 23 years in the investment business, I could also summarize by saying that when the stock market has resisted decline in the face of bad news, more often than not it tends to continue to rise for a while. When stock prices fall on good news or don't rise any higher, then a declining market may be in the offing. At the present time, the former condition appears to be in place (again, predictions are a tricky business, so just consider this a generalization).

Why do investors have such a hard time doing the right things at the right time in the market cycle? Our apparent inability to learn from mistakes has troubled me for a long time, but a book I recently read has finally made the process a bit clearer for me. My next article in two weeks will review this issue and some potential solutions.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.

 


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