Since its opening in January 2005, Harbor Shops Fort Lauderdale has become well-known to Fort Lauderdale locals as the home of convenient megastores like Publix and Total Wine & More and popular restaurants like Duffy's Sports Grill, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Coco's Asian Bistro, Lauderdale Grilland Moe's Southwestern Grill. Harbor Shops Fort Lauderdale has made its mark on anyone with an appetite. The south Fort Lauderdale shopping center (located just south of 17th Street Causeway on Cordova Road) also boasts extensive retail shops and service providers that locals may have yet to explore. Intown 411 recently visited Harbor Shops to talk fashion with the owners of Essentials Boutique and The Prissy Hen Consignment, to get schooled on beauty at Dessange salon and Flair Beauty Boutique and to explore the watery world of Charlie's Locker yachting and boating supply store. At each of our stops, we met passionate business owners and managers who specialize in products and services that you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Fort Lauderdale.
Dessange in Harbor Shops is one among hundreds of salons in an international French salon chain that adheres to the service standards and unique techniques created by founding stylist Jacques Dessange. Manager Stefane Bragoni, who trained at the Dessange School in Paris and has been with the company for 17 years, describes what makes Dessange's salons unique: "The way that we cut, color and act are different than in any other salon. We have our own technique for haircuts. We never section hair like the English style. Our clients stand up so that we can create an outline, and then we connect everything. With our technique, our stylists can do every haircut." Dessange stylists create highlights with a foil-free technique called balayage in which highlights are painted on. "It's a non-perfect technique that looks natural right away," Bragoni says.
Dessange Fort Lauderdale adheres to uniformly high company standards of service at its salon and spa. The equipment is cleaned and maintained to the highest standard: clients are draped in fresh cotton robes and groomed with brushes that are sterilized and rewrapped after each use. The Dessange salon experience begins with a one-on-one consultation with your stylist followed by a dry clay shampoo rub and relaxing scalp massage rinse. Based on your consultation, your haircut and color are customized according to your personal style, facial structure, skin tone and daily routine. Amelie Gazzola, a graduate of the Christian Dior salon institute, is the all-around spa expert at Dessange Fort Lauderdale, where the multi-talented lady personally provides clients with massage, facial, manicure, body scrub and make-up services. One highlight of the spa experience is the Dess'lift, a facial that consists of two phases: the first cleanses and detoxifies the skin and the second lifts the face. Below: Stylist Stefane gets the Dess'lift treament. Click here for information on spa and salon services.
Inspired by the always well-dressed hen character in the Warner Brothers cartoon Foghorn Leghorn, The Prissy Hen is a whimsical consignment shop that operates on the philosophy that everyone can be a miss prissy. Owner Linda Postyn, who's worked in consignment for nine-and-a-half years, says, "We want for people to come in and have fun. We don't think dressing up nicely is a chore." The racks and tables of the green and raspberry-colored boutique spill over with glamorous dresses, blazers, purses, jewelry, feather headbands, sparkly clutches, jeans and stylish clothes acquired from boutiques that were available at steep discounts when we visited. Prissy Hen offers high-end items by designers such as Gucci, Miu Miu and Fendi that appeal to true fashionistas as well as hot finds for the bargain hunter. Fun novelty items make The Prissy Hen an ideal spot for last-minute gift shopping as well. The shop carries flashy rubber-strapped watches like those Sandra Bullock's character wore in Blind Side, art piece heels by Robert Tabor, decorative flasks and cigarette cases as well as purse mirrors and notebooks.
Charlie's Locker started out as a nuts and bolts nautical supply store in 1972, but the family-owned business has evolved over the years into Fort Lauderdale's answer to whatever the boating and yachting communities need to look fashionable and to feel at home on the water. This might include high-end items, such as a Swavorski crystal-adorned Cristina Ferrare ice bucket or a $4500 rattan and rosewood portable bar that looks big enough to sink an average sized boat. "Most of our customers have big boats," Charlie's Locker Fort Lauderdale owner Doug Birer says matter-of-factly. "We carry products that are important to boating people," his wife Lisa Birer adds, referring to items like shoe baskets (a place to collect shoes so that guests will not mark up the boat) and battery-operated flicker candles (much safer in rough seas than open flames).
From unbreakable plastic dishware settings that resemble pottery (pictured above with fishing reel salt and pepper shakers) and acrylic glassware with a crystalline sheen to the latest fashion of yachting wear, Charlie's Locker is stocked with practical products that boaters require and luxury products that yacht owners desire.
Essentials Boutique owner Lorah Carrie, a graduate gemologist who owned a jewelry store before she opened up her eclectic Florida boutique, carries a variety of clothing and accessory lines. She dedicates nearly the entire front section of her Harbor Shops store to two lines: Brighton and Pandora. The colorful handbags, jewelry, belts and accessories of the Brighton collection can be mixed and matched to create a signature look.
Essentials dedicates an entire store counter to Pandora. The Danish jewelry line is best known for its bracelets, which Carrie describes as "a 21st century version of the charm bracelet." The Pandora phenomenon, she says, is just catching on in the United States. Pandora produces hundred upon hundreds of bead styles in 14k gold, sterling silver and murano glass and offers beads. Bracelets start at $40 and go up to $1100, which means that people in all income brackets can build customized pieces.The Pandora line also features customizable earrings, rings and necklaces.
Essentials carries designer bag lines like the quilted Vera Bradley collected and the jeweled clutches and handbags of Mary Frances (pictured above), which boutique owner Lorah Carrie describes as "little works of art." You'll also find pieces from jewelry maker Charles Albert, who designs large charms and unique pieces from sterling silver, seaglass, shells and natural agates.
Fashionistas will want to check out Essentials designer clothing as well. Susan Fixel's Bejeweled line is rock 'n' roll-inspired, embellished couture. The Joseph Ribkoff line features elegant dresses, evening gowns and trendy sportswear.
Flair Beauty Boutique is a bright and charming one-stop beauty solution. The in-store salon and facial bar provide the hair and skin care services that set the foundation for beauty while the retail boutique carries a vast selection of products for your day-to-day hair and skin care regimen. Flair's most popular hair product is Moroccan Oil, and the shop is well stocked with other favorites such as Rene Furterer, Davines and the full line of Nioxin, a product for thinning hair. The shelves boast specialty skin care products that you'll only otherwise find at dermatologist offices and specialty salons, such as Skinceuticals, Dermalogica and glo Therapeutics.
Master stylist and colorist Gene Lumsden, who has over 25 years in the business, is on hand to offer cuts, coloring and styling. Flair's facial bar, which is situated right in the center of the boutique, serves a wide range of mini and steam facials (20 to 25 minutes), full facials (50 to 60 minutes) and facial peels, each designed to address different skin care needs. The Sun Kissed steam mini facial, for example, repairs sun damage to the skin while the Anti-Aging full facial hydrates and tightens skin. Flair Beauty Boutique provides essential products for kids, such as Fairy Tales Hair Care, an organic line with lice-fighting, chlorine-removing and detangling hair products. Plus, you'll find fun gift items and makeup that kids are sure to love, such as silly bands, flower-shaped bath soap dispensers, hair color wands and decorative make-up cases.
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