by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
If you have been in business Downtown for 20-plus years, you learn a thing or two about survival.
Based on his 24 years of experience, Doug Ganson was chosen by his peers as the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown Council Small Business Leader of the Year. He owns For All Seasons at the BellSouth Tower and two Sundrez locations, one at the Landing and his latest venture at Regency Square.
Fresh out of college, he worked in his family’s drugstore business for four years. In 1987, Ganson struck out on his own and opened For All Seasons.
In 1993, he was approached by the Rouse Company to open a shop at the Landing and Ganson’s business has been growing ever since. He started in a tiny 224 square-foot space and moved downstairs into a bigger space in 2004. Earlier this year, Ganson moved again into his current location, an 1,875 square-foot store. All three of the stores are Florida Lottery retailers and full-service Western Union locations for money orders and money transfers. Two of the locations have walk-in cigar humidors and two have full-line card and gift departments.
“I call my stores, ‘hybrids’. I have found that no single aspect of this business would be viable,” said Ganson of his store’s varied inventory and services. “By combining different elements, we have found a niche by providing an array of services and products for people who work Downtown. When you have a retail business Downtown, you don’t try to reinvent the wheel, but you do have to fine-tune what you have.”
Twenty-four years of unlocking the door and putting the cash drawer in the register every day have given Ganson an extensive understanding of the environment. He has learned that his Downtown clientele is unlike any other in town.
“Downtown is a unique and difficult market and you have to be able to figure it out. It’s not traditional retail. We neither expect nor experience people from outside of the Downtown community coming to our store,” he said.
Ganson added that Downtown retail businesses have their own special time zone.
“A business outside of the core of Downtown who is paying rent 24 hours a day, seven days a week more than likely has the opportunity to do business more than 50 or 60 hours a week,” he said. “That’s all we have to make it happen.
“On the other hand, we have a captive audience. Once the 50,000 people who work Downtown arrive each day, they’re not leaving until it’s time for them to go home.”
Running three retail stores doesn’t leave a lot of free time in Ganson’s schedule, but a year-and-a-half ago, he decided to make the time to join the Downtown Council.
“Owning a small business is very demanding and time-consuming,” he said. “I felt I had lost contact with other professionals and my peers. I wanted to have an outlet to interact with other business people. Downtown Council was convenient (every other Friday at 7:30 a.m. at River City Brewing Co.). It meets at a time that doesn’t interfere with my business day.
“I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I met people who are out there slugging it out like I do. It’s been a great experience.”