- December 4, 2024
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Brigette Kubin didn’t think too much of it when she took a temporary job at the Lazy Lobster.
During the summer, she spent tedious nights closing the restaurant after dinner and growing closer with her coworker and former head bartender, Courtney Rossler.
As they worked, they chatted about their dreams of running businesses of their own. While Rossler hoped to open a restaurant of her own one day, Kubin would do anything to reopen her gift boutique, Three Island Monkeys, which was originally located on Anna Maria Island.
In May of 2022, Rossler’s business partner, Kevin Pass, bought 5620 Gulf of Mexico Drive to house their own restaurant, Lo’ Key Island Grille. After spending the summer renovating the place, Rossler called up Kubin and offered her a section of the building to open up Three Islands Monkeys on Longboat Key.
Kubin said her friendship with Rossler is the perfect testament to how Longboat Key women support each other in their endeavors.
On Nov. 29, Kubin opened up Three Island Monkeys for the first time since 2020 on Black Friday. Through her carefully curated art and unique trinkets, she hopes the whimsical gift boutique will liven up Longboat Key and bring joy after the difficult times of the hurricane season.
Local artist Kandi Kerekes opened up Three Island Monkeys on Anna Maria Island in 2009 to sell her work and other art from local artisans. She named her shop after her husband and two sons, who she called her “Three Island Monkeys.”
Originally from Chicago, Kubin has been coming to Anna Maria Island on vacation for more than 30 years, visiting Three Island Monkeys every time because she loved its emphasis on local art.
After working for Hilton Hotels and Resorts for 20 years, Kubin was unsure about continuing down that path in her career. In 2015, she visited Three Island Monkeys as she always did but was devastated to find out that Kerekes was selling the shop.
Kerekes was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. With her months of life limited, she wanted to pass down the shop to someone with the same mission, but the only offers she received didn't plan to keep her art platform.
“I was so shocked that I kept thinking about it throughout the day,” said Kubin. “That afternoon, I ended up calling her and asking if she wanted to go to dinner. I told her I wanted to throw my hat in the ring because I have a strong love for the arts and wanted to keep it an art store. After sleeping it over, she agreed to sell it to me.”
After buying the store in July 2015, Kubin shadowed Kerekes for the last months of her life. She said the most important lesson she learned from Kerekes was the significance of loyalty to her customers. She was happy to give Kerekes peace of mind that local art would be the main focus of the shop after she passed away.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Kubin was about to move Three Island Monkeys to a new location but had to pause to take care of her parents during quarantine. She said that three weeks turned into five years, and lost the new brick-and-mortar location for the shop.
For the past couple years, Kubin has been in Chicago with her family, selling products from Three Island Monkeys online. She only came back in the summer and started working with Rossler at the Lazy Lobster this year.
As she brings Three Island Monkeys back to life for a third time, Kubin’s main goal is to keep Kerekes’ spirit alive by decorating the shop with items she made or had in the original shop.
The 2024 hurricane season did push back the opening day due to flooding from Hurricane Helene in the store’s sunroom. This also paused vendor transactions and last-minute renovations of the shop.
As she recovers from the damages from the hurricanes, Kubin aims to make the shop her own while keeping Kerekes’ whimsical style and branding of monkeys. She is heavily inspired by “Three Little Monkeys” in her life, which are her mother and her two aunts.
Kubin also put her spin on the shop by leaning more into the gifts aspect. Along with local art, people can purchase various specialty items and gifts such as jewelry, birdhouses and trinket boxes. With her local art connections, she said each item sold at Three Island Monkeys is one-of-kind and can’t be purchased anywhere else.
“It goes back to Kandi,” said Kubin. “It's about reinventing the spirit of art for some relief from the hurricanes. I want to give a platform for all sorts of art and its uniqueness. They are all handcrafted, whimsical and fun. I can’t wait for people to come and touch and look and just laugh after all this.”
