Changing lanes

Walk into the Bike Bistro in Fort Myers and you may not know the man behind the counter was instrumental in helping one of the biggest brands in the fashion business.

Steve Martin was a young advertising executive in 1989 when Marvin Gralnick sought his advice on how to generate publicity for his small chain of women's clothing stores. “They had six stores and they wanted to get bigger,” Martin says.

That small chain was Chico's FAS, which today has 1,550 stores in North America. Gralnick and Chico's helped launch Martin's career as a successful creative director at Southwest Florida advertising firms, including his own.