Jeanne Maron could be considered a "cradle retailer."
Maron, owner of The Gifted Cork wine and gift boutique and the recently opened Gifted Gourmet store in St. Augustine, grew up in her family's furniture business, Maron's Furniture.
She ran the Mandarin location for 23 years before it closed.
After a brief stint working in corporate public relations, Maron began to catch the retail bug again.
An ideal location became available in 2009 and — with much encouragement from her husband — she opened The Gifted Cork at 64-A Hypolita St. in St. Augustine.
The store has expanded from its initial offering of about 125 wines to regularly stocking almost 450 varieties from nearly every wine-producing region.
Maron maintains customer interest by offering daily wine tastings and features a different region each month.
"Wine is such a 'fun' category, compared to furniture. About 70 to 80 percent of our customers walk away having bought something. The secrets are stocking a good variety and having a knowledgeable staff," said Maron. "St. Augustine is a great place to have a store because the majority of the people are relaxed and on vacation."
When a building about four doors away became available, the idea of adding a cheese, coffee and gourmet food store seemed like a natural complement to The Gifted Cork.
The Gifted Gourmet opened late last month at 58 Spanish St.
"I have heard so many customers complain that there is no place to get good cheeses in St. Augustine, and I was ready for a new challenge," said Maron.
"We are able to do a lot of cross-marketing between the two stores and order inventory from the same vendors," she said.
"The greatest rewards of what I do are getting to interact with people every day and having something succeed that I built myself."