- November 23, 2024
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Anthony’s Fresh Fish Market, at 410 S. U.S. 1, in Bunnell, celebrated a year of business May 3.
Anthony’s Fresh Fish Market and Fresh Produce owner Anthony Ursino works hurriedly behind a counter, double-fisting ice chips over oysters and clams, taking orders. He apologizes for the wait, as a worker nearby meticulously lines potatoes and onions into Astroturf-lined produce stands.
In coolers against the walls of the 1-year-old store, there are plastic-wrapped lobster tails and bags of squid. There are containers of homemade seafood stew and shrimp, scallop, salmon and cheddar chowder. Even gator tail.
“My grand vision is to be a one-stop dinner shop,” he said, sitting inside the shop at 410 S. U.S. 1, in Bunnell.
Ursino also sells sauces, sausages, seasonings and dips. He set the place up like a mini grocery store.
“I didn’t draw a paycheck for a while — still don’t really get one sometimes. I try to put the store first,” Ursino said. “(But) if we keep growing like we have been the next six months to a year, we’ll have everything we need.”
On that list of “everything” is an extra display freezer and to finish the store’s construction renovations and decor.
Surrounding Ursino, cages and fake fish hang on the walls. There’s a clock that looks like an anchor. One of the doors is mocked up like the side of a boat. He says his little brother, Joe, helped establish the interior’s theme. He also worked for next to nothing in the store’s beginnings.
Without Joe, Anthony says, he probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish any of this.
A St. Augustine native, Ursino has worked in mostly seafood restaurants since he was 15. He even cooked a year for a tugboat crew. And the past few months, he says, business has been building. To keep up, he recently brought on a third worker to help out Fridays and Saturdays.
“I saw its potential,” he said of the shop, which he bought after a previous fish market closed at the same location. “But I didn’t have money or licenses or any of that.”
So he hooked up with the Small Business Development Center, wrote a business plan and borrowed money from friends and families. A little less than a year later, Anthony’s Fresh Seafood Market was open for business.
“I remember, after a month and a half, our first $1,000 day,” Ursino said. “That, for me, was huge and kind of emotional because it was a struggle.”
At that time, he wasn’t working for a paycheck. His brother wasn’t getting paid. The days were long and not very profitable. So a big day was a sign that things were happening. Good things.
“Then, Christmas break, we beat all of our sales records,” he added. “Then New Year’s beat Christmas. … We just had a banner day.”
At this point, though, things are more consistent. There is no “busy time” of day, he said, but at least now, he’s established.
“People come in here and head straight for that (soup) freezer,” he said, motioning behind him. So he knows he’s doing something right. And, in the future, he has even considered adding frozen breads and pre-breaded fish.
But no need to rush any of that. The way things are going, he would rather settle into what he has than take on too much at once.
Pulling the neck of a blue apron up and over his head, he said, “In business, you evolve.”
And evolution takes time.
For more, call 586-5800.
Sign of the ‘tides’
Anthony’s Fresh Fish Market and Fresh Produce in Bunnell is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
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