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Jacksonville’s Jacobs Jewelers to Move Out of Downtown, Ease Customers’ Parking Worries June 28, 2022 (0 comments)
Jacksonville, FL--Jacobs Jewelers, one of the city's oldest jewelers, is moving out of downtown to a new location. The purpose seems clear — to find a more friendly environment for their customers.
[Image source: Wikimedia Commons]
A news report states that Jacobs Jewelers opened along East Bay Street in 1890. The store was destroyed in the fire of 1901, but it was revealed. As a symbol of the city's resilience to fire, the store installed a 15-foot-tall Seth Thomas clock as a landmark.
Delorise Thomas and her husband, Roy's, association with the store seems everlasting. They bought the business in 1968 and have since been serving customers.
The store at 204 N. Laura St. will move to the new location only in 2023. "We have plenty of time," Delorise told the outlet.
Speaking to the publication, Roy says parking was an issue with a downtown store, as customers would have to park several blocks away. Besides, city regulations from 2007, as per the report, allowed people to park their vehicle in an on-street parking space by adding more coins to the parking meter.
"We still have customers calling us on their cellphones to tell us they're driving around looking for a place to park. I don't see how letting people feed the meters is going to help that," Thomas said, as per the report.
But it's also hard to get away from the charm of downtown. "The building is beautiful," Delorise says in the report. "We have loved being here and being part of the history of downtown. We just have to make it friendly for our customers."