Rooted in Florida. Worn for Life.

1895A Family Beginning

Gus Anthony opened a counter in the post office on the ground floor of The Palms Hotel, at the corner of Clematis and Narcissus streets in West Palm Beach. The original 25-foot space combined jewelry, a newsstand, and the post office boxes in a single room. It was the start of a fashion legacy rooted in casual elegance.

1896Staying True to West Palm Beach

When Flagler's railroad pushed south to Miami, many businesses followed. The Anthony brothers opened a Miami store but kept their headquarters and their hearts in West Palm Beach.

As Emile Anthony, Gus's younger brother, later wrote: "The summer of 1896 was the hardest summer the business life of West Palm Beach ever knew." West Palm Beach was just two years old. Still, Gus and James stayed true to their commitment to building a family-run fashion business in Florida.

1900Clematis Street Takes Shape

Anthony's moved to a new building at the northeast corner of Clematis Street and Olive Avenue, while a second Anthony's store inside the Royal Poinciana Hotel began catering to the affluent winter tourists of Palm Beach.

This early connection to resort-town customers planted the seeds of our signature focus: casual, comfortable fashion made for warm-weather living, a legacy that continues to define our collections today.

1904-1914A Decade of Progress

"For the original firm, these 10 years between 1904 and 1914 were the golden years of greatest progress," James Anthony wrote in 1936.

During this decade, Gus and James gradually handed store responsibilities to their younger brother Emile, who would go on to run the business for the next half-century. The Anthony brothers also briefly owned the local newspaper, The Tropical Sun.

1919The Clematis Flagship

Emile D. Anthony Sr. built the three-story flagship department store on Clematis Street, leading the project himself with financial backing from his older brothers, who had moved to Jacksonville in 1914 to enter banking.

The second floor was eventually devoted to women's clothing, including designer fashion, marking the beginning of Anthony's transition into a women's brand.

Palm BeachDefining the Palm Beach Look

In the early decades of the 20th century, Anthony's didn't just sell to Palm Beach society. We helped define how it dressed. Emile D. Anthony Sr. and his brothers popularized the look that became the height of men's fashion in Palm Beach: the navy sport coat, white pants, white shoes, and straw boater.

They imported English flannels in bolts from London and tailored them American-style for what the family came to call the "Poinciana Uniform."

Emile Sr. also brought golf hose and knickers to Palm Beach, traveling to New York each spring to buy imported wools before the rest of the buyers left for Europe. The store sold $100 Panama hats from a glass showcase, blocked by Knox and shipped from Cuba, and outfitted the wealthiest visitors of the era with the best the world had to offer.

His operating philosophy was simple, and it shaped the brand for the next half-century: "There's nothing too good for Palm Beach."

1920sA New Era of Resort Style

Anthony's specialty became chic retail in resort destinations. Beyond Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, and a men's store at the Boca Raton Resort, Anthony's operated locations in Fort Pierce; Daytona Beach; Ormond Beach; Gainesville; Titusville; Hot Springs, Virginia; White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina; and Dayton, Ohio.

1927Customer First on Clematis Street

With West Palm Beach reeling from the real estate bust of 1925 and 1926, Anthony's bought four pages in The Palm Beach Post, a record for local advertising at the time, to promote its annual anniversary sale.

"The anniversary sale is staged this year to meet conditions of the hour," Emile D. Anthony wrote. "We are giving more values." This customer-first philosophy still guides us today, shaping every in-store and online experience and inspiring community partnerships from hurricane relief to breast cancer awareness.

1928Enduring the Okeechobee Hurricane

The Okeechobee Hurricane tore the roof off the Clematis Street store, and rain destroyed the merchandise inside. "We had no hurricane insurance," recalled M.P. "Ham" Anthony, Emile's son.

The family went into bankruptcy in the years that followed but kept the doors open. Like so many moments in our history, the business endured.

1930-1950Women's Fashion Grows

Before and after World War II, Anthony's expanded its women's clothing line and continued to grow throughout South Florida.

1959A New Growth Period

Anthony's acquired the Bradley & Taylor stores in Fort Lauderdale, marking the start of a new growth period. By this time, Emile Sr. had passed leadership to the second generation: his sons E.D. Jr., Carl, and Marvin Pope "Ham" Anthony.

1970sEleven Women's Stores

By the mid-1970s, Anthony's operated 11 women's stores across Florida, from Hialeah to Titusville, with a men's department remaining only in the original downtown West Palm Beach store.

1976Women's Resort Wear Comes First

Anthony's discontinued its men's department to focus exclusively on women's resort wear. This decision solidified our identity as the go-to destination for women's resort wear and separates, a legacy that continues today with a curated collection of brands including IBKUL, Ruby Rd., Anthony's Resort Wear, and Coconut Row.

1980-2009New Generations, Same Values

The Clematis Street flagship temporarily closed in the mid-1980s as downtown West Palm Beach changed, then reopened in time for the city's 1994 centennial.

By 1995, Anthony's had grown to nine locations across South Florida: downtown West Palm Beach, Palm Springs, west Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Juno, Jupiter, two Stuart stores, and Vero Beach. During this period, the business transitioned into its third generation of family leadership under M. Pope Anthony Jr.

2008-2009Weathering the Recession

Like many businesses, Anthony's faced the challenges of a nationwide economic downturn. With deep roots, creativity, and a loyal customer base, we weathered the storm by staying focused on what mattered most: the customer and what she needed.

2010The Fourth Generation Goes Online

The fourth generation joined the business. Kristin Anthony and M. Pope Anthony III brought a vision for the next chapter, and in spring 2015 they launched anthonysfla.com.

What began as a single Florida storefront grew into a digital destination for resort-ready fashion, bringing the spirit of Florida style to women across the country. Now, even when our seasonal customers head back north, they can stay connected to the brand they love and shop Anthony's anytime, from anywhere.

2020Meeting Customers Wherever They Were

When stores shuttered for a month in April 2020 under COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, our e-commerce business kept Anthony's alive. The team transitioned to supporting customers one-on-one by phone and email, our store managers stayed on payroll shipping orders across the country, and the brand met its customers wherever they happened to be.

It was a defining moment for our omnichannel future, and it carried forward something Anthony's has done in every era of its history: when the moment changes, we listen, we adapt, and we keep showing up.