Borrego Sun - Since 1949

For home décor shoppers who harken back to the 50's, 60's, and even 70's for inspiration, there's a new interior design store in Borrego that may suit your needs. "Dazzles" at The Mall carries an exclusive Pop Modern inventory – from furniture to clothing to jewelry to various knick-knacks – that has great appeal to the baby boomer psyche in many of us. Some might call the furniture style retro, or the jewelry vintage, or even on the upper outskirts of "mid-century modern" for many of the items, but Pop Modern seems a better overall fit. It's not by any means an antique store.

Co-owners Keith Burke and Mike Sauls own a similar Dazzles store in Palm Springs, and like many of us, when the pair came here for a visit two years ago, "We fell in love with Borrego," Burke said. Two months later, they returned to purchase a mid-century home "which we're totally into," he said. "We like a lot about this town – its small town feel, friendly people, and cool architecture – but it also has the feel of what Palm Springs was like 70 – 80 years ago. We plan on being here a long time."

Burke now resides here in a house once owned and decorated, if that's the proper term, by a monk. Burke redecorated, making it similar in mid-century modern décor to the store but with only one architectural change – he changed the flooring. Burke lives with his two dogs, a dachshund named Roxy Doxy and Tiki, a Golden Retriever.

Mike Sauls has 42 years in the retail business, 20 in Palm Springs, and he handles Dazzles operations there while Burke runs the Borrego outlet.

With a degree in interior design from the Design Institute of Corona del Mar, Keith Burke certainly knows how to lay out a store for optimum visual effect. An interesting example of wares at Dazzles, and one of Burke's favs, is a Lucite table and chair suite in the center of the store that comes right out of the Space Age (60's and 70's). Surrounded by an eclectic variety of items from vintage baubles to rattan furnishings, that table is the only item in the store that's not for sale.

Dazzles is located on the South Side of The Mall just west of Bike Borrego and is open "most days," says Burke, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., "except when I go to Palm Springs for a day or two during the week."

Borrego welcomes its new retail member to the community, who we suspect will Dazzle us in the style to which we have become accustomed.