Tarpon Sponge

This store stood out in a sea of shops. I loved the history of the building and that the floors and some other details remained the same as when it was built. Harry Klimis, one of the owners, was friendly and helpful. The quality of the merchandise is great and I’ll treasure my souvenir from this classy store. This place is the real deal!

This shop is full of history, and the owner is one of the proudest people we’ve ever met. Proud of the history, and proud of the current state of the store. My wife had many many questions regarding the sponges, and the owner was extremely helpful, and spent a lot of time with here to make sure she was totally satisfied. We came home with a couple of sponges, which were very reasonably priced, and we know exactly what to do to get years of use out of them.

Yes, it’s a tourist trap but after I struck up a conversation with the owner, Athena Klimis-​Tsardoulias, I found out how much history is at this particular shop and was quite impressed. It started when I asked her if the sponges would always smells like dead fish. Really, if I’m going to wash my body with this thing it can’t keep that smell! She assured me that the sponges take on whatever smell you use on them. I think she was around sponges too long (she admitted as much) because she said that to her it smelled like iodine. Some of them were definitely stinky.
She also explained to me the difference in sponges, how they are harvested, how they grow and reproduce and how to best care for them. She gave me, for free, a pamphlet on sponges. She told me about the history of the building and how they used to have sponge auctions right there in the square. She pointed out pictures on the wall and her grandfather’s sponge license. As Matt E. said, the rooms of the shop were used to store sponges. I believe the owner said the building was built in the 1920s.
I ended up buying two wool sponges, which are more expensive, but longer lasting than the yellow sponges. I found two that were $ 5 cheaper than other sponges their size. When I asked the owner about this she explained that the cheaper ones were perfectly fine, they just had some color variables that made them less desirable. Color didn’t matter to me since these were going to be used in the shower. I ended getting two decent sized wool sponges for about $ 7 each, not a bad deal. I also picked up a bar of Greek olive oil and honey soap. My suggestion is to engage the store owners of Tarpon next time you visit– you never know what you’ll learn!

If you’re here, you’re a tourist. Buy a sponge and be happy.

The Tarpon Sponge Company is the most historic business in Tarpon Springs. Several of the rooms full of sponges were the sponge storage rooms used by the sponge divers nearly a century ago and the business has remained in the family the entire time. The sheer selection and history of sponges here is better than anywhere else in town. The prices are a little higher than some of the other places but not significantly so. If you’re going to Tarpon Springs it’s either because of the Greek food or because that it’s the sponge capital of the world and if that’s the case no trip would be complete without a trip to the Tarpon Sponge Company.