“When people come in, they’re a little bit shocked” – Remedies Parlor with unique taste

Seven years ago, Fort Myers husband and wife duo, Anthony and Tyna Swingler, opened the dark “antique modern design” store to create a wine bar-tasting experience while you shop.

Located at 2541 Thompson Street in Fort Myers in the Gardner’s Park district sits what looks to be a small white building filled with luscious greenery. In fact, it’s a “not so small” space at Remedies Parlor, with merchandise filling all three rooms and an outdoor space.

Owners Anthony and Tyna Swingler have traveled around the country looking to add to their collection of antique postmodern designs. Anthony said the couple had the best luck digging out of old homes and barns in Tennessee.

After collecting for years, the couple decided to share their style with those in Southwest Florida, opening their first store.

“We knew we would open a store in the long haul, so we just started selling them piece by piece here,” said Anthony as he pointed around the store, adding, “You wish you could buy it all, but you’re in a vehicle, so you can’t fit it all in there.”

You can find merchandise such as antique plates, jewelry, candles, oils, bath gifts, an apothecary, plants, and home furnishings.

“We have a modern aesthetic, but then you come into the second room, and it’s a little more antique. It’s a little darker,” said Tyna Swingler. “I think it’s really about finding that perfect balance between modern and old world per se.”

The couple wanted to create a unique experience by adding a wine bar while you shop around the store. They sell all-natural wines, bubbly, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and small snacks.

Depending on the item, prices range from the lower teens to the upper hundreds.

The couple said their natural wines are a main attraction; their main sell-outs are plants, oils, and plant-based fine and raw chocolates.  

The Swinglers, plant and chocolate lovers themselves, said they wanted to create a space for the community to experience a new design trend that they had perhaps never seen before.

“We wanted to have a place for the community to come together,” said Tyna, “We decided to really just share all of the products, all the things that we love, take a risk, and share that with the community.”

While the design speaks for itself, the Swinglers discussed how their goal for their store was to connect those with the five human senses: taste, touch, vision, smell and hearing.

“We really wanted to create a space that really speaks to the five senses, and also speaks to everything that we love,” said Tyna, “So we’ve really brought in antiques, home furnishings, jewelry, apothecary; we’re really known for our scents, our candles and lotions and incense, and then also plants, of course.”

The Remedies Parlor building is not new to the Fort Myers community. In fact, it used to be a grocery store nearly a century ago. Now, the boutique is filled with antiques and home to some of the most unique styling in the Southwest Florida region.

“I think that really comes through in the space that we created,” said Tyna. “We both have retail backgrounds, and visual merchandising comes into play. ust being surrounded with a beautiful atmosphere was really our goal.”

While the business was thriving, in 2020, the pandemic threw a curve ball. The owners decided to create a curbside pickup of their products and were stunned by the turnout of customers.

“COVID was tough,” said Tyna, “We were really scared of, you know, what are we going to do? All of our customers came because they were stuck in their house.”

While on a constant rotation, the owners said they carry more than a hundred bottles of natural wines, along with champagne and beer.

After grabbing a glass, whether it is alcoholic or non-alcoholic, many go outside to the couple’s magical garden.

“The magical garden is really created by Anthony continuing to melt candle wax and candle wax and plenty of candles,” said Tyna, “To really create this really beautiful candlelit outdoor garden.”

Anthony said every day before the store opens, he goes outside to light nearly 200 candles to have a fresh look of the “candle wax dripping effect” to match the unique design of their boutique.

While outside in the garden, the couple noted how they bring new plants into the garden space for people to enjoy or purchase.

“We have an assortment of philodendrons,” said Anthony. “We have air plants. We have cactus and succulents and we always are bringing in new plants.”

In February 2025, the couple plans to have a big celebration for the 8th anniversary of Remedies Parlor.

To learn more about the Remedies Parlor featured in Gulfshore Life Magazine, click here.