Hello Friends!

It's been awhile, and my how things have changed. You may have noticed that we closed our downtown storefront and took a hibernation from social media. I’m happy to report that we are all healthy and Rusty has been living her best life as a semi-retired shop cat here at home with us.

So… a lot of folks may be wondering why we closed up the shop. It's hard to understate how difficult it was to make the decision to pull up our roots from our downtown location. We loved our little shop and put all our energy into making it the perfect home. The feedback we received from you, our customers, was nothing but positive and we were overjoyed to see our business growing. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 abruptly changed the world. These changes made it clear (to us at least) that our little shop, as currently constructed, was ill-prepared to thrive in this new world. Coincidentally, our lease was also up for renewal.

We found ourselves with a choice to make - stay put with an increased rent and hold out hope that things would turn back to normal before we ran out of operating capital – or decline to renew our lease, close up shop for a short while, and hunker down while we planned the next evolution of The Rusty Crickett.  

We choose the latter. For the past few months, we’ve been busy developing our new concept. 

So… what have we been cooking up?

Nothing short of a brand-new customer experience and an innovative new way to shop!

Let me explain.

Picture being in an art deco lounge with soft textures, vivid pops of color, and amazing smells. Imagine you’re listening to your own personalized soundtrack as you enjoy the in-person experience of browsing through items you previously placed in your online shopping cart. Now imagine you’re doing it all while laughing, hanging out, and enjoying a fresh-made beverage with your best friend – or even sharing the experience live with your mom who lives three states away!

Sound amazing? We think so too!

It’s our vision for the future, and we call it The Crickett Private Shopping Experience.

The lounge is currently under construction. We’re finalizing the technology integrations, and you’ll begin to see a rebranding in the coming months. The full launch is planned for just after the New Year. 

In the meantime, The Rusty Crickett will continue to operate in an online-only capacity. To help support your holiday gifting needs, we’re offering free local pickup of your online orders at our new location: 2300 Whitfield Park Dr, Suite K1, Sarasota FL 34243. We’re also providing an affordable "local's only" option. If you live within the Bradenton or Sarasota area, we’ll personally deliver your order for a small fee - much less than your typical shipping cost.

We’re extremely excited for this new chapter and would like to thank all of our loyal customers for your ongoing support. We can’t wait to share this incredible new experience with you!