Island Pursuit

History

Established in 1984.

It all started with a love of Shoes, and expanded more that a decade later into fashion clothing– things that you can wear everyday. We picked resort locations because we like to travel, we’ve grown into 5 locations in Florida, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our focus is bringing our customer new authentic clothing, shoe and accessory brands while maintaining a fun, relaxed shopping experience.

We love what we do, and we want you to love us too.

Meet the Business Owner

Michael V.

Business Owner

Our Story

At an early age while growing up in New York, Michael Valentino, became captivated by the beach life when his family vacationed on the Jersey Shore. In Florida, he fell in love with sailing, bodysurfing and fishing. He was inspired to make a better life for himself and get away from the suburbs.

The pursuit to live on an island had begun.

Michael started his first job at sixteen with a local department store & quickly graduated to mall store manager. At 21 he was managing six stores from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania and by the young age of 24 he opened his own store in Boston selling authentic Swedish clogs at Eskil’s Clog Shop. Shortly after, in 1979, he opened Northern Pursuit, a ski shop embracing the outdoor life in Killington, Vermount. Over the course of the next three years he expanded to five stores, including Hyannis.

With the goal of living half the year in Florida in the winter and half the year in New England for the summer, Michael combined his expertise i