On St. Armands Circle, the Holiday Season Runs Through Familiar Addresses

The names on St. Armands Circle have changed more than the buildings have. If you walk the Circle this holiday season, almost every newcomer is in a space another long-running business occupied before the 2024 hurricanes. The one well-known name that hasn't returned, Shore, is waiting on a narrow city code question about how a rebuilt building on the Circle is allowed to keep water out. So this year's St. Armands is mostly a reshuffle of existing storefronts, and it helps to know which name now sits at which address before the December crowds arrive.

Who Is in Which Building Now

The clearest example is the address swap on John Ringling Boulevard. Tommy Bahama spent nearly 30 years at 300 John Ringling Blvd. Storm damage led it to move to 465 John Ringling Blvd., the former home of Shore. Your Observer reported that this makes Tommy Bahama's new spot "yet another former restaurant." Shore's owner, restaurateur Tom Leonard, still owns 465 and leases it to Tommy Bahama.

That leaves 300 John Ringling for the next tenant. Here is the current map, street by street:

• 300 John Ringling Blvd. Formerly Tommy Bahama, and the address Naples-based Phelan Family Brands picked for a 200-seat Pinchers, a Southwest Florida seafood restaurant. It is the company's 11th Gulf Coast location, joining one on Lakewood Ranch Main Street. The company had targeted an October opening, so check before you go.
• 465 John Ringling Blvd. Formerly Shore, now Tommy Bahama.
• 22 S. Boulevard of the Presidents. Le Colonne, an Italian restaurant founded in 1998, operated here for more than 25 years. It is now Nonno Umberto, which opened in December 2025.
• 40 S. Boulevard of the Presidents. Flambo, a Trinidadian restaurant that soft-opened in October 2025 and held its grand opening that November.
• 28 S. Boulevard of the Presidents. Chocolate Emporium, a second location of the Anna Maria Island shop, which soft-opened the week of June 30, 2026, with handmade sweets and ice cream.
• 29 N. Boulevard of the Presidents. Speaks Clam Bar closed its St. Armands location after its last day of business on March 15, 2026. Its Lakewood Ranch location stayed open, as Your Observer reported.
• 380B St. Armands Circle. Sloan's Ice Cream announced its first Sarasota location here and is planning to open in the first quarter of 2027, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The oldest name on the map hasn't moved. Columbia opened its Cuban-Spanish restaurant on the Circle in 1959. It is now one of more than a dozen restaurants there.

St. Armands Circle Association Executive Director Rachel Burns told Your Observer that "there's a lot of opportunity for small restaurant owners to find a niche for something original." She also said more boutique-style eateries and businesses are on the way. She explained the Pinchers pitch as a response to a request she hears often from visitors who want Florida seafood: "the tropical plants, the bright colors, fresh seafood, and that relaxed, upscale vibe where you're dressed up, but you're still wearing your flip-flops."

Two Newcomers Head Into Their First Full Winter

Nonno Umberto shows how a reused address can carry its history forward. After the 2024 hurricanes, Le Colonne owner Umberto Salustri decided to close. His son, Simone Salustri, and Simone's wife, Amber Mayner, began renovating the space in September 2025 to continue his legacy. The new name means "grandfather" in Italian. The 300-seat room was updated with a coastal feel. Its menu is inspired by a coastal Italian town in Simone Salustri's family heritage, and bread and dessert are made in-house. Mayner named the whole bronzino, deboned by the chef, along with dry-aged meat and shrimp cocktail as the most popular orders. Shrimp carpaccio is a recent addition.

Nonno Umberto opened in late December 2025, during the busy part of the year. Mayner told the Observer in mid-September that "our summer was absolutely amazing," so its first summer went well. This December's holiday events land a few weeks before its first anniversary on the Circle.

Flambo, a few doors south, is close to its first anniversary. Co-owner Anthony Logan runs the 175-seat restaurant with his son, Kevin Ramlochan. Logan launched the first Flambo in Philadelphia after a career as a healthcare executive. The menu reflects Trinidad's Spanish, French, African, British, Chinese and Indian influences. The three dishes Logan called crowd favorites are butter chicken in a mildly spiced tomato cream sauce, the Flambo red snapper with pickled vegetables, and Trini drunken rice noodles with soy, garlic and sweet pepper. The name comes from the homemade lantern his parents made from a rum bottle, a T-shirt and kerosene during power outages when he was a child in Trinidad.

Nonno Umberto, Chocolate Emporium and Flambo are all on the same stretch of South Boulevard of the Presidents. That stretch is also where much of the season's foot traffic will be, as the calendar below shows.

The Corner Still Waiting on a Floodproofing Answer

Shore's planned return is at the corner of Boulevard of the Presidents and Madison Drive, in what is currently a gutted two-story shell. The proposal calls for a boutique shop and casual cafe on the ground floor, a restaurant on the second floor, and a residential use on a new third floor.

Your Observer reported on October 21 that the main obstacle is how to protect the building from floodwater. Leonard and the Kaufman development family plan to spend more than $200,000 to dry-floodproof the street level with aquarium glass rated for high water from flooding or tidal surge. In the city's Commercial Tourism zone, which only exists on St. Armands, dry floodproofing limits a building to 35 feet. Wet floodproofing, which lets water flow beneath occupied space, allows 45 feet for residential structures. That 10-foot gap makes the three-story plan difficult.

The city's October 7 Development Review Committee review raised two more issues. One is whether a second-story dining balcony is treated like an awning, which can't extend past the property line. The other is parking. The building requires 17 on-site spaces, and the plan shows 11. The partnership has been talking with the city's Parking Division about leasing spaces in the nearby garage at Madison and North Adams Drives. A city spokesperson told the Observer that the next step is for the applicant to resubmit.

This explains why the reshuffle went the way it did. Existing interiors like Le Colonne's dining room and the old Tommy Bahama restaurant could be renovated and reopened. A building that has to be rebuilt taller and floodproofed has to get through the code first. So this season, Shore's corner is a construction question, and Shore's name is on someone else's former address.

The Holiday Calendar Runs Through the Same Blocks

The St. Armands Circle Association's event calendar for the rest of the year puts most of the action in the park at the center of the Circle and along South Boulevard of the Presidents.

1. St. Armands Circle Art Festival & Sidewalk Sale, November 14 and 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival takes over St. Armands Circle Park and South Boulevard of the Presidents, the same block as Nonno Umberto, Chocolate Emporium and Flambo.
2. 48th Annual Holiday Night of Lights, Friday, December 4, 5:30 to 8 p.m., hosted by the Association. The City of Sarasota's event listing describes the traditional program as carols, a Santa parade and the lighting of a 60-foot Christmas tree. Because the event runs through dinnertime, a reservation at one of the newer restaurants would need to be made ahead.
3. 22nd Annual Porsches in the Park, Saturday, December 12, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cars from around Florida are displayed in St. Armands Circle Park.

Getting There on a Busy Night

On event days, cars head for the same garage the Shore plan hopes to lease spaces in. Here are the options, based on the City of Sarasota's garage page and the Association's parking and transportation page:

On Holiday Night of Lights, a Friday, the trolley runs until 11 p.m., three hours after the tree-lighting program ends. If you live on Lido Key, you can take it to the Circle and back and skip the garage. On the Lido side, the city lists Lido Island Grill as the concession at Lido Pavilion. Its hours are flexible, generally 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. depending on beach activity. The city's pavilion page currently shows that Lido Beach Pool is closed for essential maintenance.

Kelly has watched St. Armands storefronts change hands for more than three decades, through her years at the Longboat Key Club and long after. If you live on Lido or Longboat and want to know how this season's changes on the Circle affect your own property's value, call Kelly Rosenberg for a market consultation or request a personalized home valuation.