Best of ORL 2019 – Home & Shopping

July 31, 2019

The Center for Biking Happiness

Deena Breed believes she’s selling happiness.

The Orange Cycle co-owner says that when a customer leaves with the right bicycle, she likes to imagine how it might affect their lives.

“It’s always something good. Some people lose 100 pounds, some people discover a new community,” Breed says. She recalled a customer who signed up for a charity ride after buying a bike from her and later created her own team.

“She said it completely changed her life,” Breed says.

Breed’s husband, Howard Larlee, opened Orange Cycle in 1972 in College Park. Breed began work there a decade later, following a teaching career. Consequently, the shop values education: helping customers find trails near their home, teaching safety tips and informing them about local group and charity rides.

“My motto is, set a goal, get a group,” Breed says. But any amount of biking can help.

“Biking just a short distance, 15 to 20 minutes, can really improve lives,” she says. “I refer to my car as my climate-controlled capsule, which I really do enjoy but that’s all it is. Whereas you bike and… I don’t know. You’re alive.” orangecycleorlando.com

Pool Builder

1 Atlas Pools of
Central Florida
Oviedo
atlaspoolsofcentralfl.com

2 Pools by Bradley
Sanford
poolsbybradley.com

3 Artesian Pools
Orlando
artesianpools.com

Consignment or Resale Shop

1 Avalon Exchange
North Orange Avenue
Winter Park
avalonexchange.com

2 Dechoes Resale
College Park; East Colonial Drive
dechoesresale.com

3 Plato’s Closet
Eight Orlando-area locations
platoscloset.com

Gift Shop

1 The Primrose Shop
Audubon Park
The Primrose Shop on Instagram

2 Paper Goat Post
Ivanhoe Village
papergoatpost.com

3 Kirkland’s
Four Orlando-area locations
kirklands.com

Home Builder

1 Phil Kean Design Group
Winter Park
philkeandesigns.com

2 Charles Clayton Construction
Winter Park
charlesclayton.com

3 Z Properties
Winter Park
zpropertiesinc.com

Place for Antiques

1 Renninger’s Twin Markets
Highway 441,
Mount Dora
renningers.net

2 Adjectives Market
Three Orlando-area locations
adjmkt.com

3 Washburn Imports
Three Orlando-area locations
washburnimports.com

Renninger’s Twin Markets (Roberto Gonzalez)

Acres of Antiques

The romantic lighting, in violet, seafoam and magenta hues, fills Donna Ladley’s booth at Renninger’s Antique Center.

The entrepreneur has been making tassel-trimmed lamp shades in dramatically patterned, antique fabrics for 51 years, a trade she learned from her great grandmother.

Ladley’s booth is one of 180 within the 35-year-old Renninger’s Twin Markets, which also includes a flea and farmers market, located on 130 acres in Mount Dora.

Many booths, like Ladley’s, have a niche and represent lifetimes of collection. One booth boasts antique photography, another’s walls are filled with chiming clocks, and several gleam with vintage costume jewelry.

Other booths are a hodgepodge of treasures, such as D & A Antiques. Co-owner Annette Salzarulo has been collecting for 35 years but says her biggest attraction is her 8-year-old Shar-Pei, Taylor, who pokes her head through a knee-high window near the booth’s cash register, hoping customers will feed her treats.

Renninger’s is known for the antique extravaganzas it hosts annually in November, January and February, which draw nearly 800 merchants and enthusiasts from around the country.
“Renninger’s is a destination,” Salzarulo says. renningers.net