![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JOHNATHAN-MINEHAN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY_-You-never-know-what-you-will-find-when-enetering-Timeless-Items-of.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
You never know what you will find when entering Timeless Items of Interest & Illusion. -JOHNATHAN MINEHAN \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
How do you describe a store filled with snakes in jars, lamps built from trumpets and owners who love the abnormal?\n<\/p>\n
I can think of one word\u2026 timeless.\n<\/p>\n
Located in downtown Fort Myers, \u201cTimeless Items of Interest & Illusion\u201d transforms a store into a steampunk sanctuary for curious collectors.\n<\/p>\n
Store owners Steve and Lisa Timcak started this business to add a bold new idea to the lineup of stores the Fort Myers community has come to know.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a gallery in Matlacha that I opened 18 years ago. A few years into it, I started doing steampunk art, and it was wildly popular, but I couldn\u2019t expand into the rest of the gallery. It was, it was too much of a deviation from the theme,\u201d Steve Timcak. \u201cWe were down here one day 12 years ago and there was hardly anything here yet. I found out a week later that the store owner, the lady, wanted to retire and get out of business. So, I came here the next day, spoke with her, came back with a check and bought her out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DAVID-WISHTISCHIN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY_Customer-browsing-the-shelves-at-Timeless-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Customer browsing the shelves at Timeless Items of Interest & Illusion. -DAVID WISHTISCHIN \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
Since opening the store, the Timcaks have combined their love of steampunk with pieces by local artists.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the art on the walls is by local artists,\u201d Timcak said. \u201cI had the advantage of the Matlacha store, which had over 70 artists, so I got to cherry-pick between them and then wholesale items that I just spent time hunting online for, looking for the right sort of things that just fit the whole field.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Purchased items range from $20 to $500, with unique lamps among the most expensive.\n<\/p>\n
When getting the store together, the Timcaks wanted to make sure they had a great staff to guide customers when searching through the store. Joy Tester was the person they were looking for.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I went down to Fisherman\u2019s Village and Joy was working at one of the stores,\u201d Timcak said. \u201cWe talked to her and came back years later; she was there, and we made a pitch.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Tester was known for her customer service, and after talking with the Timcaks, she took the leap to leave her job and pursue a career at the store.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so surreal, because I was working with a customer at that gallery, and, I mean, I saw them come in, and they\u2019re walking around,\u201d Tester said. \u201cThen after the customer left, they approached me, and I think Steve said something like, \u201cAre you happy working here?\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n
After visiting the store, Tester fell in love with its design and the uniqueness it brought to downtown Fort Myers. Tester has loved the seven years she has worked at the store and still can\u2019t believe the obscurity of some of the items collected.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the total uniqueness. I mean, it\u2019s just such a menagerie of awesome things,\u201d Tester said I\u2019ve been so fortunate to work for him (Steve) for seven years and have seen the most amazing things that he has created go out of here.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DAVID-WISHTISCHIN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY_NEEDS-CAPTION-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Owner Steve Timcak shows off the wide variety of inventory at his store. -DAVID WISHTISCHIN \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
Steve Timcak uses the store as a creative outlet. He can sit at his workbench for hours and design, from the intricate details of the model planes that hang from the ceiling to the unique specimens lining the shelves.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI currently have a passion for wet specimens, and I discovered that they can be stored in a treated form of glycerin, which isn\u2019t flammable. It doesn\u2019t evaporate, so it\u2019s safe,\u201d Timcak said. \u201cSo now I can combine, like in the front window, there is a lamp under a dome, and it\u2019s got a lizard in it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Customers have had mixed reactions to some of the store\u2019s interesting items. For Tester and the Timcaks, it\u2019s always amusing to witness a customer\u2019s first time in the store.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reactions that I get from women my age and some younger, they\u2019ll come in, and they\u2019ll just kind of stand here,\u201d Tester said. \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to absorb everything, and then they see that rattlesnake. They have this huge snake phobia, so some people will just literally turn around and walk out and not just women, but men.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The shop has become a local attraction that the community has to see to believe. Some customers will bring in friends just to witness the expression on their face when they set foot into the store.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the other thing that is so amazing is it\u2019s non-stop,\u201d Tester said. \u201cWe get people in here that have been here before that will say, \u2018I told you, I told you.\u2019 They bring friends, family and their guests, and so it just continues to spread.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Despite the store already being full, if Timcak had room for new additions, a few ideas came to mind.\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JOHNATHAN-MINEHAN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY-Owner-Steven-Timcaks-workbench-where-he-makes-items-and-different-w.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Owner Steve Timcak\u2019s workbench, where he builds unique items available for purchase in the store. -JOHNATHAN MINEHAN \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are bigger projects that I would like to install; I\u2019ve got six more of those airplanes. I would put those all around and have them all dog fighting,\u201d Timcak added.\n<\/p>\n
With the store\u2019s popularity, customers are constantly visiting the local treasure. Timcak shares some advice for newcomers or returning guests who want to check out their inventory.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMove slowly. Take your time. Look up, look down. Look all around. Every old nook and cranny. There\u2019s all this stuff down here, it\u2019s different all the time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In The KNOW:\n<\/p>\n
WHAT: Timeless Items of Interest & Illusions
WHERE: 2218 First St., Fort Myers
WHEN: Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
INFO: 239-332-8463<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JOHNATHAN-MINEHAN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY_-Snakes-and-other-specimen-catch-the-eye-of-wandering-visitors-to-t.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JOHNATHAN-MINEHAN-FLORIDA-WEEKLY_-Timeless-Items-of-Interest-Illusion-is-a-treasure-cove-of-unique-f.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n