Once the idea took hold, it didn’t take long for T. Marie Benchley to open her brick-and-mortar fashion and gifts boutique in Valrico, near Lithia Pinecrest Road and Bloomingdale Avenue.
“I could have opened up a store anywhere in the United States, in SoHo, Beverly Hills, anywhere I wanted to,” said Benchley, whose children attended Bloomingdale and Newsome high schools. “But this is in my own backyard, and I felt Brandon and Valrico really needed it. I wanted to create something that mothers and daughters could shop in together and enjoy.”
“I could have opened up a store anywhere in the United States, in SoHo, Beverly Hills, anywhere I wanted to,” said Benchley, whose children attended Bloomingdale and Newsome high schools. “But this is in my own backyard, and I felt Brandon and Valrico really needed it. I wanted to create something that mothers and daughters could shop in together and enjoy.”
It was the weathered and white L-shaped building off Lithia Pinecrest Road that caught Benchley’s eye, after her daughter, Scarlett Benchley, an actress and model, suggested it was time to expand beyond her mother’s online boutique business.
Source: www.tbo.com
