Burdine’s: Sunshine Fashions & the Florida Store

The story of the Sunshine State’s most famous store actually began in Bartow, Florida, where William Burdine and a partner founded a small dry goods store. When his partner left the business in 1897, Burdine made the decision to move his store to a dynamic frontier town on the far southeast coast of Florida–Miami. By the early twentieth century, many Floridians were familiar with Burdine’s famous Sunshine Fashions that reflected the relaxed, subtropical locale and helped define the region’s identity. Join Miami historian Seth Bramson as he relates Burdine’s storied history, when the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor perused elegant displays and customers frequented the tearooms for a slice of the famous–and decadent–pecan pie. There will never be another store quite like Burdine’s.