From the Daily Record
New York women’s clothing designer Tory Burch will open a store in St. Johns Town Center, making Jacksonville the ninth location in Florida operated by the popular brand.
A permit application shows a $350,000 interior renovation at 4835 River City Drive, No. 101. The 3,200-square-foot space is near the southern end of the Town Center, not far from J. Alexander’s.
Chair, CEO and designer Tory Burch designs and sells women’s wear and accessories. The brand launched in 2004 in Manhattan.
The business has more than 150 freestanding boutiques and a presence in more than 3,000 department and specialty stores, as well as at toryburch.com. It also has outlet stores in Orlando and Sunrise.
Burch also offers branded eyewear, fragrance and beauty products.
Burch worked in fashion, public relations and marketing before opening her own store, whose inventory almost sold out on the first day.
New discount chain
entering market
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, which registered the claim of “good stuff cheap,” sees Northeast Florida as up to a four-store market.
The Pennsylvania-based chain will open its first Jacksonville store, possibly by the end of June, in the former Babies “R” Us space in the Regency Park Shopping Center in Arlington.
Real Estate Vice President Jerry Altland said another one to three stores could open next year throughout the metropolitan area.
Ollie’s says its initial average cash investment is $1 million per store.
In addition, the company will affect retail occupancy rates because it backfills store space that other tenants have vacated.
Its first area store will be in 40,150 square feet at the end of the Regency Park Shopping Center next to American Signature Furniture. Landlord Brixmor Property Group said the lease boosts occupancy to 70 percent.
The city approved a $150,000 build-out by Five D Contractors Inc. at the 9400 Atlantic Blvd. center.
The Waycross, Ga., store is the closest to Jacksonville.
Altland said Northeast Florida is a logical expansion step.
He considers Ollie’s a treasure hunt. “If you see it, you’d better buy it. You might not see it again.”
Ollie’s buys closeouts, excess inventory, salvage merchandise and liquidations, with a broad selection of brand-name merchandise.
The first Ollie’s opened in 1982 in Pennsylvania. One of its four founding fathers was Oliver “Ollie” Rosenberg.
Firebirds joins lineup
at The Strand
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill intends to open its first North Florida restaurant next year in The Strand shopping center near St. Johns Town Center.
The Jacksonville location will open in the third quarter at southwest St. Johns Town Center Parkway and Big Island Drive.
“Jacksonville has been on our radar for quite some time,” said Stephen Loftis, vice president of marketing.
He said The Strand’s location matches Firebirds’ profile and the area’s demographics fit its offerings.
Firebirds will employ about 100 full- and part-time workers at the estimated 6,500-square-foot restaurant, which will seat 225.
Hours will be 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
It will be the third Firebirds in Florida. The first is in Orlando and another will open in Pembroke Pines. There are 39 Firebirds in 15 states.
The restaurant’s menu includes steaks, seafood, salads, pasta, a gluten-free menu, specialty cocktails, beer and wines.
Lunch prices on the Orlando menu range from $5 for a cup of soup to almost $29 for filet mignon. Salads, burgers and sandwiches are $8-$17. The highest price on the dinner menu is $45 for a surf and turf of lobster and filet.
Jollibee opening
in Kernan Village
Jollibee, which bills itself as the largest fast-food chain in the Philippines, intends to bring its fried chicken, burgers and noodles to Jacksonville at the Kernan Village shopping center.
Work began this month at a former drive-thru restaurant at 11884 Atlantic Blvd. at southwest Kernan and Atlantic boulevards.
Jollibee posted a job ad for a Jacksonville supervisor, while the city is reviewing a building permit application and one of the landlords has posted the store on its website site plan for Kernan Village.
Its jollibeeusa.com site shows the main menu includes Chickenjoy fried chicken; Fiesta Noodles; burgers and burger steaks; sandwiches, such as corned beef, crunchy chicken and Spam; desserts; and breakfast.
A permit application was for a $215,000 build-out of a former Kentucky Fried Chicken and A&W Restaurants building.
Accelerated Contractors LLC, the project contractor, said it hopes to complete the project by September.
The application shows a 3,192-square-foot space. The structure was built in 2003 for the KFC project, but has been closed for several years.
A timeline on Jollibee.com.ph says it opened its 1,000th restaurant last year in Dubai.
It started in 1975 as an ice cream parlor in the Philippines and opened its U.S. presence in a Los Angeles suburb. It began its U.S. expansion in 1998 and now has 32 stores, primarily in California but also in Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia.
OfficeMax shuts
down Southside store
OfficeMax closed its store at 8801 Southside Blvd. on May 14.
Shoppers were directed to Office Depot locations at 8653 Baymeadows Road and at 10601 San Jose Blvd.
Office Depot and OfficeMax merged in November 2013, continuing to operate as Office Depot Inc., based in Boca Raton. OfficeMax remains a brand in its portfolio.
Spokeswoman Sarah England said Office Depot announced in 2014 it planned to close about 400 stores over several years, and the Jacksonville store is one of them.
Not counting the Southside Boulevard store, the company operates nine area stores.
OfficeMax occupied 23,500 square feet of space at Timberlin Village, which is managed by The Shopping Center Group. Bed Beth & Beyond, Buy Buy Baby and PetSmart also occupy space at the center. Another smaller store space is available.
Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. owns the shopping center.