FMBGN-BIZ-Leanis Casual and Swimwear Turns 50 And Tells The Story Of Santini Plaza’s Comeback

Fort Myers Beach can feel like a postcard, but the real story lives behind the counters, in the leases, and in the people who decide to rebuild anyway. We talk with Carrie from Leanis Casual and Swimwear on the south end about what it means for a small island business to reach a 50-year milestone and why that history is tied to Santini Plaza and the bigger comeback of the community.

Carrie shares what visitors often don’t see: the grit it takes to reopen after Hurricane Ian, the challenge of seasonality, and the “big city problems” a small town suddenly has to solve. We also dig into the emotional side of recovery. For many families, Leonis isn’t just a place to buy women’s swimwear or resort clothing, it’s a memory marker. People remember shopping there with grandma, then returning years later as the grandparents themselves. That continuity matters when so much else has changed.

We also get practical about planning a visit. We cover how the south end is working to improve communication, where to look for an events calendar, and what’s returning around the island from farmers markets to restaurants to marina services like gas and bait. If you want a grounded, local look at Fort Myers Beach recovery, small business resilience, and what’s actually happening at Santini Plaza, this conversation is for you.

If you enjoyed this, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves the island, and leave us a quick review so more people can find the south-end story.

Leanis Casual and Swimwear
Carrie Smith
7205 Estero Blvd, Suite 721, Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931
(239) 463-2838
yourfriend@leanis.com
leanis.com

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Transcript

Welcome To Fort Myers Beach

"Cabo" Jim 0:32

Welcome, good neighbors, to another episode. Today we have Carrie from Leanis here on the south side of the island, right?

Carrie Smith 0:39

Absolutely. The little and fine part of the island that is it has customers that come from far, far away once a year to run from the snow.

"Cabo" Jim 0:50

Right. But there's a lot of that up there right now.

Carrie Smith 0:52

Other than that, that's all they want to do. They want to come and visit, they want to soak up the sun, right? And drink a little.

"Cabo" Jim 0:59

That's it. And enjoy the beach.

Carrie Smith 1:00

Yeah, absolutely.

"Cabo" Jim 1:03

Yeah, I know.

Carrie Smith 1:04

It is. It is.

"Cabo" Jim 1:05

So why don't you share a little bit about what Leanis is about? You got a birthday coming up.

Carrie Smith 1:11

And yes, this is our absolutely our last uh season before we turn the big five-o. Leanis is gonna be 50 years old. It's been here since 1977. There's a few stores in Plaza that's been here since 1977. And um, you know, the people that come down don't really realize the history of Santini Plaza and the history of the businesses that that have been here.

"Cabo" Jim 1:34

There's a lot going on there, right? And for people to stay around for any business to stay around that long is a big deal. But absolutely fort Myers Beach, especially, but we've been through.

Carrie Smith 1:43

Yeah, it's a lot.

"Cabo" Jim 1:44

It's a lot, it's a lot.

Carrie Smith 1:46

And you know, just getting back. It's the the customer and the and the people realize how much it takes to get back. And uh and in this store is I mean, and even this entire pack, it's really not about Liani's the store, it's about Santini Plaza and all the businesses and Fort Myers Beach as a whole.

"Cabo" Jim 2:09

Oh, exactly.

Carrie Smith 2:09

Um Anita next door at the islander, she's been here or she took over the store called Discovery Bay, and a lot of people go back to that location again and again, right? And they don't pay attention that now it is fabulous. The islander, right? Where they know it as the gift store Discovery Bay. It's not Discovery Bay anymore, right? It is the islander, it's been the islander for I would say, if I had to guess it, maybe eight hours.

Storm Reality And Island Grit

"Cabo" Jim 2:39

See, people just don't want to forget the old past and they're all that they're comfortable with that too. So that's a good thing.

Carrie Smith 2:45

And the just and there's a lot of people that come down from the north side they land that have never had to come down here, they didn't want to come down here. They had Times Square to service them. Yeah, then they come down, they go, Oh, there's a whole new plaza down there. Yeah, they don't realize it's not a new plaza.

"Cabo" Jim 3:01

It's been here, it's been here, it's been here since really not to take anything away from the north end, but there's not a lot of shopping down there.

Carrie Smith 3:08

There isn't, they got hit a lot harder. And the the north end of the island is three feet, I want to say three feet lower than this side of the island. So if they got six feet of water, we're hitting three feet of water.

"Cabo" Jim 3:22

Yeah, they got sixteen feet of water, well, we got you know, we don't want to talk about how much water is a cover both our heads. We'd be swimming right now. Exactly. We don't want to do that. Yeah, we'll swim in the gulf. Yes, not in our backyard.

Carrie Smith 3:38

Absolutely, yeah. We all love the beach, but you know, when it comes up to try and kill us, we know so much.

"Cabo" Jim 3:44

That's so good, not so good. So running a business on Fort Myers Beach sounds like a dream job, right? I'm on the beach. Yeah, I'm live, we're all living the dream, not here. Like we mentioned, we'd all go through a lot of storms and challenges. Yes, obviously, Ian was a big one. Yeah, but is there something that's kind of helped to find you within those 50 years that said you can look back and you know it kind of we went through it, we made it through it.

Carrie Smith 4:11

Yeah, yeah. To survive here on Fort Myers Beach, this is a wonderful little small island community with now after Ian, big city problems, yeah. And Florida as a whole, yeah. I mean, the the whole state of Florida, we only have part-time legislation for the whole and that's crazy. Yeah, the whole state of Florida only.

"Cabo" Jim 4:34

No wonder nothing gets done.

Carrie Smith 4:36

Absolutely. So then when you look at this island, it's like big. There is, I mean, there is part-time things that get done here from contractors and even businesses coming in. People go, How long is this gonna take to get Santini Plaza back? Well, things get done a little bit smaller down here. Yeah, yeah. But defined us or me as a business, I think anyone that is here running a business on Fort Myers Beach um is a different type of person. They're a service provider, they do it because they want to do it, um, they do it because they enjoy doing it. Um it's something to come here and provide the memories that everyone, everyone has. And and that's why they come. They come for memories with family, memories with grandma and grandpa, memories with friends. And that was a big reason. Uh, this store is, I think Nesbits might be the same uh size a lot. This store is one of the only stores that you can walk into, and it is the exact same footprint. Yes, absolutely. The dressing rooms we put in exactly the same spot. Literally, the mark floor, we went, the well goes right here.

"Cabo" Jim 6:02

Right, no other places they can go. It's gotta go right here. Right.

Carrie Smith 6:06

You walk in and they say, Oh, it's bigger. No, we just lost the and you know, we didn't like that drop stream anymore either.

"Cabo" Jim 6:12

Good excuse to get rid of it.

Carrie Smith 6:13

Yes, yeah. So there's um uh there's just lots of grit. Yeah, if you're coming to run a business on Fort Myers Beach, you better come with some grit.

"Cabo" Jim 6:23

Well, and there's you know, and not to mention the seasonality of it too. Yeah, it seems it's a big deal, yeah. Yeah, places stay busy around, we have our seasons. Very true, very true. It's nice during the season. We can go to the beach, there's nobody there, but there's nobody there.

Carrie Smith 6:37

Yeah, and also it's so everybody comes down here because it's freezing up north. Yeah, well, in July, August, and September, nobody wants to be here. You're like at the entrance of Haities without so not me. Give me some air conditioning, I don't want to do that, but but I do because I'd rather I'd rather hide from the heat than freeze down to my core.

"Cabo" Jim 7:02

I get it, yeah, yeah.

Carrie Smith 7:03

Yeah.

Why The Store Matters To Visitors

"Cabo" Jim 7:04

So as a first-time visitor to Fort Myers Beach, is there something or when they come into the store, is there something they should be checking out?

Carrie Smith 7:13

You know, you know what? I don't think I can pinpoint one particular thing that I can say, you know, definitely go and pick out. Right. Um, this the store as a whole, I have gentlemen that come into the store, and and gentlemen are not big shoppers. Well, you're a little bit more changed.

"Cabo" Jim 7:31

I can't say all the gentlemen pick up your ears.

Carrie Smith 7:36

But most gentlemen are not shoppers. Yeah, I have gentlemen that even during the closure of the hurricane contacted me that have lost their spouse, lost family members, and said, Are you sure that you can get that store back? He said, You know, if I can get the lease space back, which you were counting on the landlord at that point, if the landlord can get the space back, I can get the store back.

"Cabo" Jim 8:00

Nice.

Carrie Smith 8:01

And what was important for all those people is this is the store that people went by when they were little girls or young men, yeah, and said, Oh, my grandma shops there, and they close the door and they keep my car. Yeah, and now the store that they remember being in with their grandma, and now they are the grammar, they are the grammar, yeah. Or for a few gentlemen on my on my mind, they come over just to visit the rack, yeah, where they last purchased a dress with their stuff that's no longer here, and that's a gift that I can give to people. I love that that you know, so that's the way this store is for it.

"Cabo" Jim 8:41

It doesn't matter what's in it, yeah, it matters that it's still more than just the yeah, correct.

Carrie Smith 8:47

And that's all of Fort Myers Beach, the things that aren't here anymore. Um visiting the island last year at this time, it was almost like a little bit of attending a wake. Yes, it's a celebration of who's still there, but it's also a mourning of who it is that we lost. Well, there's things on this island that are never going to be the same again, and we all have a mourning of what it is that we've lost and what it is that's never coming back, and what it is that we want so badly, yeah, but just attending that wake, we can't bring it back to be exactly what it was.

"Cabo" Jim 9:19

Yeah, it's nice to go back, but you can't you can't go back to there either.

Carrie Smith 9:23

Yeah, so that's one of the big things about Lianis and what's near and dear to my heart is bringing back as much as I possibly can. But I'm only this little one.

"Cabo" Jim 9:34

You can only do it, but you're doing a great job.

Carrie Smith 9:37

Thank you.

Moving South And Honoring Mom

"Cabo" Jim 9:38

So let's talk about your story. Are you from here originally? Oh no, like most people, right?

Carrie Smith 9:44

Most everybody migrated down here for a reason.

"Cabo" Jim 9:47

I say I blame my parents for not being born down here. Yes, I got down here as quickly as possible.

Carrie Smith 9:51

Yep, absolutely. My husband wanted to, he was done with the snow when we met, and I went, Well, you're with the wrong girl, because as long as my as long as my my mom's drive, I'm not leaving my mommy. And then my mother passed away with beer cancer. And I went, Well, this stinks. Yeah, right. And uh coming down here and running the store is very much a tribute to my mother. Yeah, my mother's dream job is was to be a personal shopper. Yes, it was. That was her dream job. And when she retired, she wanted to be a personal shop. And I come from a background of uh laundromat and property management. Um, in Michigan, I was not any type of a fashionista in any way, shape, or form. I was a boy's mom.

"Cabo" Jim 10:36

Right?

Carrie Smith 10:38

Yes, my my boys see me dressed like who are you? What happened to you?

"Cabo" Jim 10:43

You go through a crisis, okay, right?

Carrie Smith 10:45

So now I am my mother's daughter. And I know that would make mother so happy. Yeah, and my father goes, Oh my gosh, your mot your your mother's daughter.

"Cabo" Jim 10:55

I mean, and when you're younger, you're just like your mother. That's not a compliment. But as you get older, you're like, Yes, that was a compliment.

Carrie Smith 11:01

Yeah. And as we um lost the war between my son's wheelchair and the snow.

"Cabo" Jim 11:07

Oh, right.

Carrie Smith 11:08

Well, that was uh that was a big influence to bring us down here. But you know, when you when you leave your home state, yes, all right, what am I gonna do now? So that's my story of what I've done.

"Cabo" Jim 11:20

Find your way and found your way.

Customer Service And Community Pride

Carrie Smith 11:22

I did, yes. And I've always been a service um oriented person. I just service does something to me that it brings something to someone that is special that they're gonna carry forward. I'm a big forward person, yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 11:37

Pay it forward and treat people with respect and customer service. I just talked about that the other day. Customer service, something that's it's huge, it's not so common anymore. It's huge.

Carrie Smith 11:47

Our St. Patrick's Day parade that just happened. Our St. Patrick's Day parade, everybody will do the parade, and I'm the one that's gonna have the trash bag and I'm out there throwing things in the trash because it's just gonna blow all the time and it's gonna, you know, and then we have problems with you know, turtles or whatever it is. So I'm the lady out there with the trash bag, right?

"Cabo" Jim 12:07

But that was a great event here for the South Side of the Yeah.

Finding Events And The Plaza Calendar

Carrie Smith 12:11

It was, yes, it was actually, and lots of people didn't know we had a St. Patrick's Day break last year. They did not know because they didn't attend the wake, they couldn't get into the you know, they couldn't get into their condo. There was lots of there's lots of condos you still can't get in now. Um, but uh yeah, if and we have to do a little bit more um communication. Like we're we're working on that also. Um, I don't have it out there where we found out if you put in Google, I haven't put enough effort into the new domain name that we have for the uh Santini events calendar, yeah, but it's out there. So people go, oh, when is the farmer's market coming? When is the produce there? When is whatever event that is going on? And well, they don't know the difference between putting it in the address bar and putting it in Google. Yeah, it makes a difference. So I can't really advertise that yet because then people get mad.

"Cabo" Jim 13:03

They're there, it's not there, it's not there.

Carrie Smith 13:07

So to find the calendar right now, you just put in, and then you have the problem with the store name. People go, How do you spell Leonis? Well, then they can't find it either, right? So if you put in women's swimwear Fort Myers Beach, you will find the little bathing suit girl for Leonis on the first page because she's older than Google. Yeah, she is Google's grandma, right? Absolutely, and then you'll find Leonis, and then you can find the blog that's out there, and I'll have like the same thing great as out there, and there's also a link out there to the Centini uh Plaza calendar, and I'm trying to load it up with things right now. It's all the way through April because that's when the farmers market is going through currently. And if you're on Tuesday, it's in Thursdays for those of you that don't know. And then there's a little produce market that's out there. He's out there, they're not out there every day. I think it is. You'd have to look on the calendar. I can't remember right now, even I'd have to reference the calendar Monday through Saturday. I think it's Tuesday through Saturday.

"Cabo" Jim 14:09

It does have Monday, yeah.

Carrie Smith 14:10

Yeah, Tuesday through Saturday. But it's out on the calendar as well. Yeah, and uh, and different things. We're trying to, you know, get with our neighbors and put in different things that are going on um so that there's more, but we have to put more out on the calendar.

"Cabo" Jim 14:24

Just like a lot of people on the north side, they know about the strip parade, yeah, but then they're like, Oh, there was a St. Patrick's Day Parade. How do they miss that? I'm like, Well, it's not in the same place, it's further down the island. Yes, yeah, no, yes, just being aware of it.

What’s Reopening Around The Island

Carrie Smith 14:37

Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a long ways. My father hadn't been down here in a very long time, and he wanted to come down. He remembered driving down to Lani Kai on his motorcycle. My dad is uh a retired police officer at Vietnam vet, and uh yeah, and and he went not to lani Kai yet, it just didn't seem like a star. And I knew, and the traffic was too bad, I couldn't get him down there. I'm like, Dad, you don't want to go down to lani Kai anyway because you're gonna be one of those that's mad the way it is now because not the Lani Kai is fancy, right?

"Cabo" Jim 15:10

Yeah, it's not lani Kai that's upgrading, they've upgraded.

Carrie Smith 15:16

My mother's like a riding father would go in there and go, What's this?

"Cabo" Jim 15:19

Right, could have gone on top of the mask or mermaid, right?

Carrie Smith 15:25

It's it's still and it's fabulous to lots of new people.

"Cabo" Jim 15:28

Yeah, oh yeah.

Carrie Smith 15:29

But people that want it the way that it was, there was a customer for that also. It's not the South customer, yeah. But now it the South customer, I've told people you can go down there now. And they look at me and they go, Oh, really?

"Cabo" Jim 15:46

Yeah, go try it out. That's nice.

Carrie Smith 15:48

Yep, yep. My girlfriend visited, and it was last year, so we didn't have restaurants open in Santini Plaza yet. And I took her out down to the Lani Kai, it was fabulous.

"Cabo" Jim 15:58

I said they've done a great job, the tech is beautiful, they've cleaned it up for sure, so that's a good thing. Yeah, much like Fort Myers Beach is getting a lot of cleanup, man.

Carrie Smith 16:09

You know, and we need more restaurants, we need South Beach is coming right along. I hope have you heard anything about when South Beach is coming? I have not. I have not. You know, I I don't think there's a commitment date yet, but looking at how things come along, it's sometimes they just creep on here. I would say, you know, their hopes for April is what I've been hearing.

"Cabo" Jim 16:31

Right.

Carrie Smith 16:32

Maybe.

"Cabo" Jim 16:33

And then you get into that off season, you're like, well, how much do I want to push it towards off season? Anytime it can open, it's better than paying rent or not to get the money to come up.

Carrie Smith 16:42

Absolutely, absolutely. So when it does open, I'll put that out on Facebook, I'll put that out on our little blog. Yeah, I'll put that on the Centini's calendar, um, things like that, and uh just keep Mullin for there's uh over Easy Cafe, that should be fabulous, also. That's going in the skies location.

"Cabo" Jim 17:01

Okay. That one no, I didn't know.

Carrie Smith 17:03

So in the old skies location, that was our breakfast previously, and uh over easy cafe is going in there, and they're also gonna have just like skies was open all the way through evening, and uh supposedly they're gonna have the bar that opens out into the hallway as well, a lot like uh Lenno has.

"Cabo" Jim 17:21

Yeah, Leno.

Carrie Smith 17:22

We have the the restaurant, and Pru started it here. Our our fabulous Prue here at Leanis, she calls it leg no. And she'll she'll pretend she's flirting, she's like leg no, no for you, like uh like yes, think that's it, yes, no so for you, yeah. She's leg so that started that shame on Prue. It's Leno.

"Cabo" Jim 17:49

There you go, right? I don't think I knew that right now. So I learned something today.

Carrie Smith 17:54

You know, it's the it's the entertainment and the fun of Fort Myers Beach. We have to because that's why people come here. So you're here today, you're part of the entertainment of Fort Myers Beach.

"Cabo" Jim 18:03

And I think moving forward, we kind of want to do something here on a regular basis to share the news and get the south involved a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

Carrie Smith 18:11

It's something that you know, even us. I have to go out digging to find this information. Um, like does anybody know that at the back of um the marina, they have dry storage open back there, they have uh gas back there now. And they have uh there's something else. Oh bait.

"Cabo" Jim 18:33

Okay, they gotta have bait.

Carrie Smith 18:35

They have gas, they have bait. So they've been avoiding people have been avoiding this side of the island. They don't even know they can come over here and get gas now. Wow. So how does people how does anybody know?

"Cabo" Jim 18:45

Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll help promote that.

Carrie Smith 18:47

Yeah, absolutely. So get your dry storage, get your bait. And rumor is, and I hate I hate doing rumors. I did walk back there and personally talk to them, and they hope to get 10 more boat rentals by this season. Wow. But at the same time, you know, we said, oh, Pinterest is gonna be open in the old uh old fish tails by the end of season.

"Cabo" Jim 19:11

Well, yeah, almost the end of the season.

Carrie Smith 19:13

Uh they're they in the embroidered back there and they haven't pulled the permit because I looked.

"Cabo" Jim 19:17

Yeah, right.

Carrie Smith 19:17

Yeah, so I can't.

"Cabo" Jim 19:19

Island time.

Carrie Smith 19:20

Island time, island time.

"Cabo" Jim 19:22

That's what it's all about.

Carrie Smith 19:23

Yeah, but if you come out of right there, I do do some snooping around and uh I try and not gossip. I go right over and I'm like, okay, what's going on over here?

"Cabo" Jim 19:33

Get it from the horse's mouth, directly from the exactly.

How To Support And Visit

Carrie Smith 19:37

Yeah, well, very good. So any last words for our listeners today? No, I don't. I I have just support for the islands, support for all businesses in Santini Plaza. Everybody here works so hard, and um, and just support for anyone that in Fort Myers Beach. We're here to bring the fun, the band, uh, the drink and the relaxation.

"Cabo" Jim 19:58

And and we're back and we're only getting better.

Carrie Smith 20:01

Absolutely. That's absolutely if there's anything that we can help someone out with, text down. And I I prefer text down because sometimes there's not enough of us time year to answer the phone.

"Cabo" Jim 20:13

Yep.

Carrie Smith 20:13

10 from 10 to 5. We are here Monday through Saturday, 10 to 5. Sunday we're generally, but our hours say we're not because we don't like Google to tell people that we're open in July and then Google data in their math. So our hours, yes, exactly. Our hours are officially Monday through Saturday, but it says on the door, pull if it's a Sunday, pull the door. We might be here all the time.

"Cabo" Jim 20:40

That's it. That's it. If it's a nice day, I'll be at the beach. Yeah, exactly.

Carrie Smith 20:45

Exactly.

"Cabo" Jim 20:45

Carrie, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for all you're doing here on the south side of the island. And uh being the good neighbor.

Carrie Smith 20:52

Thank you for all your efforts.

Intro/Close 20:54

Keep it going.

"Cabo" Jim 20:54

All right, we'll see you soon. Nice to see you, dear. Bye-bye.

Intro/Close 21:10

Thanks for tuning in to The Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast — No Shade, Just Sunshine, Drama Free, Positive Vibes Only!!! If you loved what you heard, share it with a friend, and keep the good vibes going. Until next time, Support Local, Be a Good Neighbor and We’ll See You at the Beach Also, To Nominate Your Favorite neighbors, local legends, hero’s or local businesses to be on The Show Go To F-M-B Good Neighbor dot com That’s F-M-B Good Neighbor dot com Or Call 239-427-41-0-0