North Fort Myers attraction ready to show off new improvements on Sunday.

BY Laura Ruane.lruane@news-press.com

The Shell Factory has restyled its nature park, adding new animals and a splash of green, which owners hope will extend to company revenues.
They’ll show off the new improvements at a chili cook-off there on Sunday.

“We’re not Busch Gardens, but we have a lot to offer families,” said Tom Cronin Sr., managing general partner of the 67-year-old retail and amusement center in North Fort Myers.

Since purchasing the attraction in 1997, Cronin has tried a lot of new features, some of which haven’t stuck. His goal is to please tourists who come here by the busload in the winter, but also to woo repeat visits from the local families, who comprise about half the year-round market share.

The Nature Park, added in 2001, appears to be in a constant state of evolution.

Out: Lions, tigers and bears formerly housed there on behalf of Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary.

In: A 3-acre park planted to attract butterflies, and featuring:
A 330-square-foot walk-through bird habitat
An alligator slough
A petting zoo of farm animals
An eco-education center housing non-poisonous snakes and other small critters Monkeys, camels and more.

The park reopened with its new look in November,
but animals are still being phased in. Winter attendance has ranged from 200 to 300 on weekdays, and 500 to 600 on weekends, said Danika Fornear, park director.

Wednesday’s visitors included Denise Morrison and her 8-year-old daughter, Jordan. “She loved feeding the turtles,” said Morrison, who’s from Ontario, Canada. “It’s nice,” Morrison said, “but some of the animals we already see at home in the wild.”

Exhibits are designed to group native and non-native species that come from the same family, Fornear said. For example, you’ll find cages of Florida raccoons - and nearby, cages of coatimundis and kinkajous from South America.

The park, landscaped by Florida Master Gardener Helen Novella, also has pedestrian-friendly paths with benches, an open patio and a covered area equipped for outdoor parties.

Just across the parking lot is the Shell Factory’s 65,000 square feet of retailing space. The business claims to have the world’s largest collection of rare shells, sponges and other sea life - and has a 25,000-square-foot wholesale warehouse that caters to other shell retailers.

Its own retail operation doesn’t take itself too seriously. Amid the walls lined with shell night lights and key chains are signs saying: “Sorry, no refunds or returns on toilet seats,” referring to plastic models embedded with shells, and “Shark in a bottle cannot be taken on an airplane.”

Besides gifts from the sea, store goods include candles, stationery, touristy T-shirts, jewelry and holiday decorations. There’s also an arcade, a formalwear rental; a photo studio; a fudge shop; a stuff-a-bear boutique and more.
Outdoor play includes bumper boats, putt-putt golf and the “Liquid Fireworks” fountain show.

In 2003, final touches were put on a $1.5 million Shell Factory expansion that included enlarging the Capt’n Fishbones restaurant to seat 600, doubling the size of the Subway sandwich shop and adding a postal service center. Since then, Cronin estimated he’s invested another $550,000 in park development.

Cronin, a Fort Myers native who made his money in real estate development, calls the Shell Factory his “hobby.” That’s because he said he’s plowed more money into it than he’s taken out.

Last year’s gross revenues were 22 percent higher than in 2003, he said. So far, 2005 revenues are about 14.5 percent higher than the previous year, “but we think that’s going to accelerate.”