The rise and fall of Grande Boulevard Mall

[Metro Jacksonville]

The rise and fall of Grande Boulevard Mall



The story of Jacksonville’s Grande Boulevard Mall is one that can be described as a retail dream gone horribly wrong, yet the end result achieving the original vision of Victor Gruen, the architect of the first modern mall.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2017-aug-the-rise-and-fall-of-grande-boulevard-mall

[Adam White]

Man, I did not know any of that stuff about Grand Boulevard.  Really great article.  I remember going there with my mom to buy Jimmy'Z shorts and Gotcha clothes.

You could get a pair of Jimmy'z clamdiggers just like the ones from Dynasty - for $1300.00!

[hansbronson]

The Mall was built across the street from Deerwood. The owners thought that the "rich" would do all their shopping at the Mall. That's why the slogan of the mall was "The mall that's not for everyone". Little did the owners know that "rich" people are a lot like the rest of us and like to shop for bargains too.

[Keith-N-Jax]

TBH never heard of it as I avoid malls altogether anyway, but it's nice the space is being utilized and not growing weeds.

[thelakelander]

Man, I did not know any of that stuff about Grand Boulevard.  Really great article.  I remember going there with my mom to buy Jimmy'Z shorts and Gotcha clothes.

Thanks. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting similar stories about all of Jax's original malls.

[avonjax]

I really liked GB but it was so poorly promoted that most people in Jacksonville didn't bother going. Granted it had some high-end stores but there were others common to other malls of the time. One crazy thing about the mall was the hours. They closed, I think, at 6:00 pm on weekdays and only stayed open to 9 on Friday and I think Saturday, and I'm pretty sure they were closed on Sunday.  Jacobson's Department store was the last retail space to close there and it was because the entire chain shuttered. I had a friend who was a buyer for them and he said the GB store was the best performing store in the chain. Although a small and regional chain, Jacobson's was in business for 164 years.

[gedo3]

I remember the grand opening of the mall.  One of the much publicized articles for sale was a beautiful dining room table (Lalique? not sure any more) for around $25,000 (yes, the mall was supposed to be upscale!).  However, one of my colleagues who lived in Deerwood said she couldn't wait to buy it and see her kids spill chocolate milk all over it!  I never did find out if anyone bought the table!

[TimmyB]

I really liked GB but it was so poorly promoted that most people in Jacksonville didn't bother going. Granted it had some high-end stores but there were others common to other malls of the time. One crazy thing about the mall was the hours. They closed, I think, at 6:00 pm on weekdays and only stayed open to 9 on Friday and I think Saturday, and I'm pretty sure they were closed on Sunday.  Jacobson's Department store was the last retail space to close there and it was because the entire chain shuttered. I had a friend who was a buyer for them and he said the GB store was the best performing store in the chain. Although a small and regional chain, Jacobson's was in business for 164 years.

Wow.  Jacobson's was based here in Michigan, not even an hour from where I lived for the past 30 years.  I had absolutely no idea they had expanded to Florida!  Kind of like Bill Knapp's, for any of you that ever saw one of those.  They thought all the snowbirds would flock to their FL locations, but they folded as well.

[thelakelander]

At their height, Jacobson's had around 10 or 11 stores in Florida. I believe the Winter Park location was the last one to officially close.

[TimmyB]

At their height, Jacobson's had around 10 or 11 stores in Florida. I believe the Winter Park location was the last one to officially close.

I looked it up.  If the info on Wikipedia is correct, there was a person that reopened one of the stores (the Winter Park location) and gave it a go solo for about 8 years, but that also folded.

[Adam White]

I really liked GB but it was so poorly promoted that most people in Jacksonville didn't bother going. Granted it had some high-end stores but there were others common to other malls of the time. One crazy thing about the mall was the hours. They closed, I think, at 6:00 pm on weekdays and only stayed open to 9 on Friday and I think Saturday, and I'm pretty sure they were closed on Sunday.  Jacobson's Department store was the last retail space to close there and it was because the entire chain shuttered. I had a friend who was a buyer for them and he said the GB store was the best performing store in the chain. Although a small and regional chain, Jacobson's was in business for 164 years.

I bought a Xanth novel at the bookstore there when I was in 7th or 8th grade.

[Jim]

The space does make for one of the more interesting FSCJ campuses.