Years ago, a friend walking past Shapiro’s Gallery in downtown St. Pete spotted Mike Shapiro washing the windows and asked, “Don’t you have people?”
“I am the people,” Mike replied.
Through those windows, an eclectic cabinet of curiosities comes into view, with sculptural lamps and earthy clay vases beckoning passersby to take a closer look.
Sue Shapiro, who earned a BFA in ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art, was working in clay before there was a gallery. In 1998, she and her husband, Mike, opened Shapiro’s Gallery of Fine American Crafts on Central Avenue. That first small storefront was primarily her studio, with a little retail space attached.
“The wall to my studio kept getting pushed back,” Sue recalls. “So, my studio was shrinking and the gallery was expanding.”
When a larger space became available, the Shapiros moved the gallery to BayWalk, now known as Sundial, before relocating the shop to its permanent home on Beach Drive. Today, they represent about 250 artists and craftspeople.
“Even when it was just Sue and I, we never stepped on each other’s toes,” Mike explains. “We each had our area.”
The gallery has seven employees, including Violet Blaze, who has been there for two decades. Mike is still hands-on, taking out the trash and cleaning the coffee pot because “somebody needs to.”
“Mike is the face behind this business,” Sue says. “He knows so many people, people know him. Sometimes he’ll just go out and sit on the sidewalk and people will come by.”
Growing up in the gallery, the Shapiros’ daughter, Alena, accompanied Sue on buying trips during high school and college. She handles staff scheduling, collaborates on the displays and manages marketing and social media.
Many of the artists have worked with the family for decades and some remember Alena from when she was a child. Now, at 40, she is the one sending the orders and answering their calls. One clockmaker asks for pictures of Alena’s children with every order.
“For her, we’re an extension of her business,” Alena shares. “We’re an extension of her family.”
The Shapiros’ son, Matt, came back to the gallery after college and worked on the business side. Mike says Matt and Alena pushed him and Sue to take chances as the market changed. Matt, now 37, stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the store last year to focus on M.Shap Collection, his men’s apparel line inspired by the St. Pete and Tampa Bay community. He still maintains a connection to the gallery, where a small selection of his signature polos is available.
Business still makes its way into family dinners, although less often than it once did.
“There were many years where, if there were a family dinner, that was our topic,” Mike recalls. “How are we going to make this work? What loan do we need? How are we going to pay the rent?”
These days, dinner is more likely to involve the Rays, the Lightning, a concert or the grandchildren.
Still, the store can pull them away.
“The phone will ring and we’ll drop everything,” Mike says.
TAKING THE LEAD
The younger generation is also bringing a fresh perspective. Alena’s growing influence is especially evident in the gallery’s approach to buying.
“I bought what I liked, but my taste isn’t everyone’s,” Sue explains. “I used to do all the buying. I’m not there now. Alena is pretty much in charge of that, especially jewelry.”
“Now she tells me what to do,” Sue offers with a laugh, “which is fine.”
“We were buying for boomers,” Mike recalls. “And Alena and Matt said, ‘You guys aren’t buying for us.’”
Fine-art jewelry is one place where that shift is most visible, with prices from $15 to $15,000. Alena says even a shopper with a $20 budget can find something.
For years, Mike compared notes with other craft-gallery owners nationwide, many of whom had been in business since the 1980s or 1990s and worried that younger customers weren’t interested in handmade wares. Matt and Alena, who sometimes joined those meetings, pushed back.
“One of the advantages we have is the input from the next generation, which helped keep us relevant,” Mike says.
Those perspectives broadened the gallery’s offerings, from kids’ art to pet accessories, while staying rooted in a shared belief in the enduring appeal of craftsmanship.
“We’re all sick of computers taking over everything,” Alena says. “And this is a nice reprieve from that, where you know a human made it.”
Some of their customers have been loyal since the Central Avenue days.
“We have kids who came in with their moms when they were 8, 9, 10 years old, and now they have kids of their own,” Mike offers. “That’s pretty cool.”
When Shapiro’s opened, downtown had far fewer full-time residents. Seasonal visitors left after Easter and returned months later.
“You walk around at nighttime now, go out to the pier—and look back at the city,” Mike says reflectively. “There are lights on even in September.”
Mike, Sue, Matt & Alena
The gallery shares its Beach Drive address with Parkshore Plaza, whose residents have become an important part of its clientele, stopping in for a last-minute gift or after dinner downstairs at Parkshore Grill.
“We joke that we work in the basement,” Mike shares.
Sue spends more time in her studio these days, with no plans to retire from making art. She loves the craft too much.
“When I meet artists, and especially potters, who are like, ‘Oh, I’m selling everything. I’m retiring,’ I’m like, ‘How can you not make things?’” she says.
She still comes to the gallery a couple of times a week to help with displays, buying, gift wrapping and shipping.
“I’m a lucky person. I am a very happy person, and I feel really fulfilled through my work,” Sue says. “And I have a great venue to sell it at. I don’t have to do shows anymore. I don’t have to worry about wholesaling to other places. I sell here. Life is good. It’s really good.”
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Customers sometimes tell them they consider Shapiro’s an institution.
“I like having that reputation. We work hard at making sure it’s a good one,” Mike admits. “I love coming to work still. I have no desire to stop. As long as we’ve got this flexibility and it’s working and it’s still fun, I’m gonna keep at it. When it stops being fun, that’s probably it for me.”
Alena’s daughters, 7-year-old Avery and 3-year-old Zoey, are growing up in the gallery just as she did. Years ago, customers were as likely to find Sue’s dog around the gallery, Mike says. Now they might find a grandchild behind the counter.
“They were here as infants,” Sue remembers. “We’d be walking around the gallery with them.”
“They both learned how to walk in the store,” Alena adds.
Avery already knows every light switch, where the chairs go and what needs to be turned on each morning. Recently, Mike even taught her how to count the drawers.
Looks like the future of this family enterprise is safe in the hands of the next generation.
Visit shapirogallery.com to learn more.
