Puddy ’N Pearl carries one-of-a-kind items

Puddy 'N Pearl Boutique owner Ivy Levinson-Purdy,51, helps customer Courtney Signorella, 28, of south Fort Myers pick out a dress for her upcoming wedding party

Puddy 'N Pearl Boutique isn't your grandmother's clothing store.

The clothes are funky, unique and definitely eclectic.

But store owner Ivy Levinson-Purdy wants customers to know that at her boutique everyone is welcome — even children who drop Cheerios on the floor.

"We don't care. We want it to be fun. Heck, we put up drawings from the kids that visit with their moms," said Levinson-Purdy, who opened the south Fort Myers shop almost a year ago with her husband Chester.

"We are very different from what you usually find in Fort Myers."

The difference, she said, lies in her ability to shop for unique items that customers won't see in other shops.

"I have a good mix. ... I do designer stuff for the higher end clientele but we have accessories that are $20," said Levinson-Purdy about the selection that she brings in from her shopping trips around the country. Some items are even shipped from Europe.

"I like to take care of a lot of people and that's why I have a lot of different things."

The store specializes in very contemporary pieces to wilder items depending on a customer's taste.

"It caters to all age groups ... the lines we carry aren't like anything around," said Gianna D' Alessandro, a store employee. "I've had mothers and daughters come in and try things on and they both find something they like."

Finding that one-of-a-kind item is easy at the boutique, which is named after the owner's granddaughters Isabella and Pearl, because Levinson-Purdy doesn't restock any items.

"The sizes in the store range from 0 to 14 and once it sells, it's gone," said Levinson-Purdy, 51, about how quickly some clothing lines leave the racks. "When I go shopping, I have trouble sometimes because if I've had it in the store already, I want something new."

Courtney Signorella, 28, shops often at the boutique because of the variety.

"I shop here a lot. I've been visiting her store for a long time," said Signorella, who first came upon the store at its old location on Fort Myers Beach.

On a recent visit, Signorella was shopping for items for her upcoming wedding.

"The variety is like nowhere else. It's very funky and unique stuff," said Signorella of south Fort Myers. "I want to come here and buy a purse that I won't see everywhere else."

Levinson-Purdy has had plenty of experience in the retail industry because of her time spent working in SoHo in New York.

"I've been in retail all my life. I had a makeup line for many years, too," she said adding that the store also sells its own Puddy 'N Pearl boutique clothing line. "We really like people and we want them to have fun."