CASUAL MEETS FLAIR AT COTTAGE BY THE SEA

by Lucy Giardino Cortese

Recipe for a successful business: take one unique idea; add a measure of creative style; blend in years of hard work; season with female ingenuity; garnish with a pinch of luck. Dish up FLife Style. This scrumptious fare is served at Cottage by the Sea.

LifeStyle Defined

Owner Dale Gray defines FLife Style as “casual, simple lines, very clean, ocean blues, beautiful greens. Our name captures what we are: beach house coastal.” Imagine hand-crafted furnishings that create the perfect coastal-inspired Florida lifestyle home.

Cottage by the Sea is that familiar grey stucco on the corner of AIA and 4th Street South in Jacksonville Beach. Seafoam blue shutters with striped awnings, front porch with decorative white fencing, and flashing neon sign welcome beachgoers.

Making Home a Happy Place

“Kids can eat at our tables,” Dale says. “We offer color variety in our furniture and they can’t beat our prices.” By developing great relationships, business grew through word of mouth. Inventory differs from other stores. Cottage by the Sea gives shoppers what they want and they all come back for more.

Dale smiles thoughtfully as she continues, “Every shade of blue, grey, green, the calming colors, you will not get tired of them and a little goes a long way. We want everyone to have their homes be their happy place. Affordability is very high on our radar. We want you to find something that fits your lifestyle. You will be smiling and say, ‘I feel happy at your store.'”

Holiday Happenings

Cottage by the Sea truly sparkles during the holidays. It hosts an Open House on the first Thursday in November. Joining beach businesses, the community is invited for food, drink and music. The showroom overflows with distinctive decorations and crowds of locals during this popular annual event.

Overcoming Challenges

Operating a small business offers many challenges, especially during the past few months. Cottage by the Sea successfully survived the Pandemic due to support of its faithful customers and private appointments with new clients.

Then the unspeakable happened.  Joy Hollingsworth, the business’ co-owner passed away suddenly.

The successful partnership  between Joy and Dale spanned two and one-half decades. The “dynamic duo” nurtured their business from garages in Palm Valley and Sawgrass to a thriving beach boutique.  Dale says, “We’re a family here. We take care of each other with a staff that cares about the business as much as the owners do” and  they are working to fill the void of Joy’s absence.

Keys to Success

Dale gives a bit of advice for future entrepreneurs, ” Follow your dreams. Realize that being a business owner is a lot of work and harder that you think. Find something you’re passionate about. You will be successful if you stay true to yourself.”

The entrepreneur  has no plans to retire. “Why give all this up for retirement? I have the best of both worlds!” Dale intends to continue the mission of this thriving business to honor the memory of Joy, her lifelong business partner and friend.

Iconic Enterprise

For fifteen years customers flocked to Cottage by the Sea. They browse, enjoy, and find that special item they are searching for at this familiar landmark. Call it beachy-chic or coastal-panache. FLife Style…born of feminine imagination; evolved to an enduring Jax Beach icon.