- November 23, 2024
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Paula Felici rarely sits still.
In the last month, she has signed a lease on a commercial space, purchased and refinished enough furniture to fill it, and opened Le Cose Belle, an art gallery and lifestyle boutique that is stuffed with jewelry, accessories, candles and more.
People ask her if she ever sleeps. “Not often!” she says, laughing.
Others have asked her if she’s crazy after learning she was planning to start a new business at age 65.
“They meant, and they were right, that it is a lot of work,” Felici said. “But I don’t think there’s an age limit on doing what you love to do.”
What Felici loves to do is to make beauty. Most of the paintings hanging in Le Cose Belle were created by her, and she also designs and sells jewelry in the shop. She buys purses and switches out their handles.
“It’s about taking something nobody else can see any merit in and making it something that everybody wants,” Felici said. “It’s about beautifying something.”
In fact, even in opening her store, she took a space formerly used as a photography studio and transformed it into a shop popping with color.
Now that her doors are open — they have been for about a week — Felici is working to attract customers. Her shop is in the Hammock, slightly tucked away from the road, something Felici recognizes as her biggest obstacle.
“It’s about building relationships,” Felici said. “That’s my biggest goal.”
To help that, Felici is offering her place as a free location for book clubs or other organizations who want a new location for their venue. Felici provides refreshments, and while she likely won’t make a sale at these meetings, she said there is value in getting people in to see her store.
She will also offer art classes on Fridays if enough people sign up by calling her store. In one class, students will leave with a completed canvas (materials are supplied). The class will cost $37.50.
To add to that, Felici is also taking reservations for a Wednesday mahjong game. Organizations who wish to have a fundraising sale can do for free. Felici will provide refreshments and will write a check for 15% of her sales to the oranization.
“I’m not the kind of person who’s about making a sale every time someone walks into my door,” Felici said. “More than that, I want this to be a place where women can go and meet other women and have a sense of camaraderie.”
The store also sells merchandise from Ship Shale Water Fitness Specialists, a local business whose owner taught Felici to swim when she moved to Palm Coast. Upholstery is done by Bill Valentine, owner of Granada Upholstery. Boxes handmade by Richard Huneke are for sale as well.
The shop is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sautrdays. It is at 5915 N. Oceanshore Blvd., in Palm Coast. Call 383-7404.
