Since it opened at the corner of Bay and Hogan streets in 1890, Jacobs Jewelers has been a mainstay of Downtown retail. That’s particularly true during the holiday season.
“If there’s not a package from Jacobs under the tree, it’s really not Christmas,” said Deloris Thomas.
She and her husband, Roy, took over the store in 1968. That’s also the first year they decorated the Christmas tree that’s located each year next to the entrance.
Some of the ornaments have been placed on the tree on the day after Thanksgiving for the past 47 years.
Some have had to be replaced, but the traditional red, green and gold color theme hasn’t changed.
The store also is well-known for its display windows that reflect the holiday theme in December.
Roy Thomas, who began selling jewelry in Jacksonville in 1960 at May-Cohens department store (now City Hall), said viewing merchandise from the sidewalk ended Downtown when the major retailers migrated to the suburbs about 40 years ago.
“The only window shopping left is here at Jacobs,” he said.
Working each day in the oldest jewelry store in Florida with the largest showroom Downtown for so many years, Thomas said he and his wife have succeeded by maintaining at Jacobs what he called the “old-time Southern tradition” of selection and service.
“There are very few of us left and there’s not another jewelry store like this in Jacksonville,” he said.
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