Will Davis

Meet Will Davis.  He is the owner and Artisian of Day by Day Shoppe in historic Northwood just north of West Palm Beach.  This shop is full of unique, one of a kind items for the home and more.  Known as an arts district, Will is right at home with his repurposed furniture, upcycled gems and artfully curated shop.  The inventory is always changing and makes it a fun stop to look for that perfect gift or must-have.  You will find everything from practical to whimsical and then some.  It could be an upcycled door made into a table or a boho-chic funky wall covering made from old pallets, lamps made from different chandeliers, old vents, or an old bamboo fishing trap.  He’s taken upcycling to a new level with his artistic twist that breaths new life into these former cast-offs.

Will was born in San Diego, CA, raised in San Fernando Valley.  After High school, he moved back to San Diego to get his associate’s degree in culinary arts and early childhood development.  Soon after he graduated from college, he moved to Florida and has been here for the past 19 years.

He has gone from being an authentic “Valley Boy” in California to now being a full-fledged, authentic Floridian.  Thank you, Will, for your love of The Palm Beaches and sharing your story with us.

Questions:

Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A: “I’ve always been creative and my friends kept telling me to open my own shop and do something for myself.  I’ve done numerous jobs during the past 19 years since moving here.  They have all been mainly in the customer service industry.  So, my passion is always trying to assists and help out others.  My last job, I was working for a not for profit working with the hard of hearing and the deaf community.  Unfortunately, the organization had to close its doors after 32 years due to the unfortunate lack of funding grants.  After that, I didn’t have a job for over a year.  We finally decided, between my husband and I, let’s do something.  A space became available on Northwood Road and we decided, let’s try it.  We didn’t want to have regrets, saying we should of, could of and didn’t.  Instead, we did, we tried and here we are today.”

Q: What is your favorite restaurant in The Palm Beaches, and what do you love there?

A: “I’m true to my heart where I try to stay local using everything out my back door.  I live 10 blocks away and support my local businesses.  They are the true backbone of America.  It’s hard to say because there are so many amazing restaurants here in Northwood, how do you choose?  It’s like asking your parents which child do you love the most?  We have the most eclectic mix or restaurant here.  Choose anything here in Northwood and you can’t go wrong.”

Q: How long have you lived or worked in The Palm Beaches?

A:  “I have lived in Florida for 19 years.  We first moved and lived in Jupiter.  It really didn’t fit our lifestyle, or our vibe because of who we were.  It was a cookie-cutter neighborhood. So, when we decided to find our future home, we came here to Northwood.  Actually, we had dinner at The Sunset Grill where we spoke to the owners and then they recommended a realtor who we needed to speak.  He lives in the neighborhood so he knew what our wants and needs were.  We’ve been here for just over 8 years in Old Northwood.  It is The Best neighborhood in America.”

Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Palm Beaches?

A:  “Everyone has their own quirky vibe.  That’s a tough one, but I guess I’m attracted to people who are passionate and who want to do things to improve.   That’s who I feel are the majority of the people who are in my neighborhood, who are always wanting to see what’s great around their four corners, let alone the entirety of the City and the county.”

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?

A:  “My true heart pulls on the Amalfi Coast because we took a cruise and we fell in love with the beauty and even the smell.  When you walk around you the smell lemon, orange blossoms, and the wonderful bread baking.  You see the beauty of the bougainvillea cascading off the cove. It looks like it’s bleeding into the ocean.   And for me, I’m of Mexican descent, my mom was from Mexico and we fell in love with Mexico City.  I would love to go there and other parts of Mexico that I’d love to see just because of my roots and my heritage that I’m proud of.”

Q: What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?

A:  “I’m a Disney fan so probably any of the Disney classics.  I love how they are repurposing them and making them into live-action performances.  Last night we watched The Lion King which was great.  I remember seeing the animated version when I was a child.  You can see and appreciate it through the eyes of an adult but with the heart of a child.  I love the Classics.  I love watching black and white films like Sunset Boulevard, The Woman, Mildred Pierce.  They really capture what the height of Hollywood was.  I like Horror flicks but, I usually watch them by myself because my husband doesn’t like them.”

Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?

A:  “Anyone who walks in my front door, I treat them as if they were a guest in my own house.  I try to find out how did they find out about us here in the village or my shop in particular.  If they’re visiting,  I try to give them a couple of locations or places to go or to eat and things to do locally, especially with kids.  Pretty much, I try to stay positive with people and try not to keep any negativity in my life.  Give people a little bit of an uplift.   You help someone who’s on the ground with a hand, not a fist.”

Q: What is something on your bucket list?

A:  “I try to keep my bucket list short just because I want it to keep it optimistic and keep things going, doing fun stuff and living in the moment.  But if there’s anything, I would love to travel, I love to eat so probably I will visit places that I haven’t had a chance to visit yet.”

Q: What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?

A:  “I’m an old soul. I love the standards, rock and roll, the 80’s, the 70’s and the doo-wop.  When we were trying to pick the name of the shop, we kept going back and forth because we knew the concept is going to be bringing in the holidays or home goods, so we kept trying to come up with a name.  At the last minute, as we were cleaning up the shop, we had music playing in the background.  Our choice of name was due to the county the next morning.  Sure enough, (on our music) Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, was singing Day by Day.  That was it – we called it Day by Day because that is how we live.”

Q: What current/former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Palm Beaches?

A:  “I think it gets back to The Mom and Pop Store that really resonates with everyone.  People can go easily through amazon and can buy things online.  Right now, it’s more of the Millenials who are going to the mom and pop stores, the quirky and eclectic stores and picking up stuff.  Those things make a big impact.  People want to know where the products are coming from, where this was created and people will support more mom and pop places.”

Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative with whom would you love to have lunch? Why and where would you have lunch?

A:  “Ellen DeGeneres, just because she’s so out there, quirky with a huge heart.  She’s an amazing humanitarian overall.  Oprah’s not a bad one either because she came from a humble upbringing.  She really showed that there’s more to life that’s passed the nose on your face. I think a lot of people struggle with that.  Every great journey starts off with a footstep.  I think both of these women show that you can conquer a lot of things.  And since I have a culinary background and I love cooking for people, I will probably have both of them over to spend more time with them.”

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about The Palm Beaches?

A:  “Just the fact that we are surrounded by this tropical splendor.  Especially during winter, we are the envy of so many, the marine life that is all around us, and the eclecticness of all of the people here.  We are only 60 some miles away from the Bahamas, we are close to Miami, close to Cuba and there’s just a melting pot of so many different people that are in this area.  It makes it extremely unique here more so than other parts of the country.”

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

A:  “With the grace of God, still here with my shop, in our village.  Northwood Village has so much potential and we are at the verge of a lot of development.  There’s a lot of opportunity for business here.”

Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?

A:  “I think people don’t know, because of what I currently do, that I have my degrees in early childhood development and culinary arts.”

Q: What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A:  “Judy Garland, ‘There’s no place like home”.  A house is a home so it depends on whoever is in there between family, loved ones, all that are surrounded with love makes the home.”

Q: If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose? Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, Dog Walker or Nanny?

A: “A masseuse sounds fine but I do not like to clean, so I will have a Housekeeper.”

Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?

A:  “Viola Davis, she’s great.  Meryl Streep or for the quirkiness and fun maybe someone like Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey.  They’re fun and full of energy.”

 

You can visit Day by Day Shoppe at 513 Northwood Rd, West Palm Beach, FL 33407 | (561) 623-9353

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