It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours for Captain Tiger Lee.
On Wednesday, the owner of Pirate Fashions announced in a mournful (yet nautical-themed) email to customers thathis costume shop of 16 years would close for good at the end of the month.
For the first time ever, Lee would host a “Grand Plundering” sale online and in person at 4006 W Cayuga St. Up for grabs: BOGO outfits perfect for Gasparilla, an auction for larger items like the 18-foot pirate ship, and even the business itself.
Now it seems like the tides may have turned in Lee’s favor. Or as he put it in an announcement a day later: “The ship is saved, the cannons arrr loaded, n’ we be ready fer many more years of plunder!”
It turns out that the tariffs that Lee worried may destroy his business model were not as high as he previously believed. And so many shoppers took advantage of the online sale that Lee is closing the store to the public this weekend just to catch up.
“We’ve just done Gasparilla and that took a lot of our stock and yesterday’s huge deluge of orders has really shrunken our inventory,” he said, noting that the “Grand Plundering” sale has ended and in-person shopping will resume on Feb. 13. “We’re in no condition to be opening.”
Lee still plans to move soon to the Azores islands, where he purchased a nine-room villa to turn into a retirement co-living community. If he doesn’t sell the business by the end of February, Pirate Fashions may cease to exist.
But for now, he has hope.
“I’m in negotiations with some people who are interested in taking it over, which I’m not at liberty to talk about,” he said Thursday.
Lee is still taking offers at tiger@piratefashions.com.
“If someone has a dream, they should contact me,” he said.