Roy Peter Scheid operated a chain of tire shops and train hobby stores for the first half of his life, retiring to Florida before the age of 50 in the late 1980s. His retirement was more active than most, though as he operated a group of Central Florida Checker's locations, opened an art gallery with his wife on Winter Park's Park Ave and eventually purchased the famous Bubble Room in Maitland.
Renamed Pete's Bubble Room after the purchase in 1996, Scheid ran the restaurant famous for Christmas tchotchkes and massive portions until he fell ill several years later. A life-long collector himself, Scheid was a natural fit for The Bubble Room.
From an early Orlando Sentinel review of the space:
"From the life-sized snoring Santa in the alcove off the lobby to the glittery "Merry Christmas" signs here and there, Christmas is most certainly one of the main themes. In fact, it's from those old Christmas tree lights -the ones that look like candles and have colored liquids inside that bubble when you turn them on -that the restaurant gets its name.All those businesses could leave a family with quite a bit of wealth, and it shows in the home of the late Scheids. The Mediterranean style home along Winter Park's coveted Genius Dr. boasts a gorgeous courtyard pool surrounded by 4,500 square feet of well-appointed living space.
Each table is a glass-topped memory box, with harmonicas, toy cars, old cigarette packs and other things that grab your attention and make you say, "I remember those!"
The listing is represented by Kelly Maloney of Fanny Hillman and Associates. The sellers are asking for $2.5 million.
Take a look around below.
