There was once a time when downtown Jacksonville was considered a premier shopping destination. Small shops and massive department stores lined its streets, often flanked by theatres or restaurants. Shoppers routinely walked from store to store and through Hemming Park, which served as somewhat of a center court for all of the activity.
Those days are long gone at this point, unfortunately, with many of the buildings that housed those stores having been demolished years ago. But many of the city’s longtime residents have fond memories of shopping downtown as children, before the days of shopping malls and suburban sprawl.
We’ve highlighted several of the grand department stores from downtown Jacksonville’s shopping era below, as a way of reminding present-day Jax residents how active downtown once was – and why we should fight to make it a hub of activity once again.
![](https://i2.wp.com/thecoastal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Sears_Original_logo.png?fit=1024%2C418&ssl=1)
Sears opened its first Jacksonville location near Bay and Pearl streets in the summer of 1959. Its five-story building featured over 250,000 square feet of space and was adjacent to a sprawling parking lot.
The store became known for its gigantic auto department; at the time, it had the largest auto department of any Sears location, earning it the nickname “The Cadillac Store.”
Sears would soon expand its local presence, opening a Northside distribution center in the ‘70s.
The downtown Sears store met its end in 1981, when the company relocated to a newly-built wing of Regency Square Mall. Its building was torn down shortly afterward.
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