As a local real estate broker and business consultant for over thirty years, longtime Anna Maria Island resident Sue Normand had noticed a need for a number of services on the island.
Clients visiting the area often asked to use a computer in order to check email or print boarding passes. They frequently had no means to send faxes. Many also needed to use her copier and often commented that there was no place offering good color copies.
Anna Maria Island is also home to many home-based business people, among them contractors, accountants, and local artists. They often expressed the need for a place to conduct business meetings with clients, and for access to various business services.
One day, driving an urgent overnight letter to the mainland, Sue Normand found herself trapped on the Manatee Avenue Bridge when the drawbridge malfunctioned. She was eventually able to turn around and head south to the Cortez Bridge, but had lost so much time that she was forced to "chase" the carrier until she overtook him at a more distant mail store. But on the drive that day, all of those unmet needs and unavailable conveniences came together and an idea was formed.
From that spark of an idea on one arduous drive came a series of business plans and arrangements, and just in time for the holiday season of 2002, Island Mail & More was born. Now, Island Mail & More proudly serves not only visitors to the area like those who first sparked the idea, but also our permanent residents who enjoy the convenient access to the whole world right here on the island, and many of our local businesses. An odd collection of needs, wishes, and requests--and a broken drawbridge--had become a reality, the island's very own locally owned and operated shipping and business center meeting all of these needs and much, much more.
