Work could start soon to convert the closed Staples at southwest Beach and University boulevards into a Gordon Food Service grocery store and delivery service.
The city is reviewing a permit application for Ticon Inc. to remove the interior finishes from the Staples at 5800 Beach Blvd. at an estimated project cost of $792,000.
Build-out will be permitted separately. The space is shown as 30,404 square feet.
The sign is off the building and posters in the window say “This Staples Store Has Closed” and direct customers to stores in Jacksonville Beach, Mandarin and Orange Park.
Thomas Duke Architect is the architect.
The building is in the Boulevard Corners Shopping Center, which is owned by 116 W Flagler Street LLC of Miami.
No membership fee is required to shop at Gordon Food Service, which operates similarly to wholesale clubs.
“Whether you’re shopping for your home, business, or organization, we offer various membership programs so you can receive exclusive offers and savings tailored specifically for you,” says the gfstore.com site.
“Gordon Food Service Store carries thousands of the most popular Gordon Food Service products at wholesale prices. The stores are open to the public seven days a week and do not require a membership fee,” it says.
On Oct. 20, the “Fall and Halloween Favorites” included a 6-inch pumpkin swirl cheesecake for $6.49. Other prices included bananas at 59 cents a pound; ground beef at $3.29 a pound; a bag of 12-14 chicken wings at $11.49; a 12-count box of pizza logs at $12.49; a 90-once tray of frozen macaroni and cheese for $13.99; and a 64-ounce tub of Blue Bell ice cream for $7.99.
Restaurants, health care facilities, universities, camps and other food-service operations may qualify to receive truck deliveries based on their product order size
On Oct. 11, Colliers Senior Vice President Gary Montour said Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Gordon Food Service probably will open in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Montour represented the Boulevard Corners landlord in the lease. He said Atlantic Retail of Miami represented Gordon Food Service in the deal.
“A lot of work has to be done,” he said, including interior demolition and build-out.
He said Staples must vacate its space Oct. 31, after which work will begin for Gordon Food Service.
The move returns groceries to the corner, where Albertsons operated decades ago in another part of the shopping center.
After it closed, the Albertsons space was leased for other uses and now by the Broach School and the Jacksonville University Simulation Training and Applied Research Center.
The store will be the first in Northeast Florida for Gordon Food Service.
Gordon Food Service has 14 distribution centers, including in Miami and Plant City, to serve restaurants, health care, schools and other customers that serve groups of customers.
The ScrapeHero.com data site says Gordon Food Service has 196 stores in 163 cities in 17 states, including 21 in Florida. The closest to Jacksonville is in Daytona Beach.
“If you look at Jacksonville, they can go anywhere fast,” Montour said of the delivery and access from the Beach and University boulevards site.
Montour said the deal needed provisions for the delivery vans for the food service.
A decade ago, plans showed that Gordon Food Service intended to open an almost 16,000-square-foot GFS Marketplace at 13423 Beach Blvd.
The store wasn’t built and the developer sold the property to AD Development LLC of Jacksonville Beach for a strip retail center.
T
he GFSstore.com site says that privately owned Gordon Food Service, in operation for more than 125 years, serves the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada.
It says it operates more than 175 Gordon Food Service Store locations in the U.S.
“By partnering with organizations from across industries — healthcare to education, independent and chain restaurants and event planners — Gordon Food Service helps customers create food experiences that people choose, enjoy and remember.”
The site says its customer service desk helps to “determine the best menu, products and quantities for your event.”