Customers line up for opening of Teso Life in Jacksonville

The Japanese-style department store, the largest in its 23-location chain, offers health and beauty products, groceries, toys and more.

Snacks and toys from Japan and other Asian countries are neatly stacked in pyramid-style displays.
Snacks and toys from Japan and other Asian countries are neatly stacked in pyramid-style displays.
Photo by Dan Macdonald
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Teso Life’s Jacksonville store opened at 11 a.m. July 10 with a line of customers wrapped halfway around the building.

A line was still there at 4 p.m. 

New York City-based Teso Life, which calls itself a Japanese fashion casual life product department store, is at 9278 Arlington Expressway near the LongHorn Steakhouse in Regency. 

When TESO Life opened in Jacksonville July 10, anxious shoppers waited in a line that wrapped nearly halfway around the store.
When TESO Life opened in Jacksonville July 10, anxious shoppers waited in a line that wrapped nearly halfway around the store.
Photo by Dan Macdonald

Owned by Teso Group, a Chinese retail company, the chain carries products in the categories of health and beauty; grocery and beverage; housewares; and kitchenware. It also carries office products, bath products and bath fixtures, car accessories, pet supplies, toys and items for kids and babies.

The store carries stuffed animals, model cars, robots and 3D wooden puzzles, many of which move. Toy anime figurines, pins and key chains are sold in “blind boxes,” in which the customer doesn’t know which figurine is inside until they open it.

Most products are in their original Asian packaging, much of which contains no English labeling.

Three-dimensional wooden puzzles at TESO Life are elaborate toys that move once assembled.
Three-dimensional wooden puzzles at TESO Life are elaborate toys that move once assembled.
Photo by Dan Macdonald

“We have to make little descriptors to tell people what they are buying,” assistant manager Calob Jones said. The company’s website, tesolife.com, can also translate many product descriptions from Chinese script to English.

In April, the city issued a permit for Greenlogic LLC of Windermere to renovate the 29,934-square-foot store, which was developed in 1998 for Rooms to Go. That furniture store left in September 2021 for a new location in The Markets at Town Center.

Conn’s HomePlus, which sold furniture and appliances, leased the building from 2022 until 2024, when Conn’s Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Many products at TESO Life are sold in their original Asian packaging, some without English labeling, requiring in-store descriptors to help customers understand what they’re buying.
Many products at TESO Life are sold in their original Asian packaging, some without English labeling, requiring in-store descriptors to help customers understand what they’re buying.
Photo by Dan Macdonald

Teso Life first opened in New York in 2017 and now has 23 stores in 14 states, according to its website, with plans to grow to more than 50 nationwide. The Jacksonville store is the chain’s largest, Jones said. Teso Life also has a location in Orlando, and a Miami store is expected to open soon.

Jones estimated the store has 30 to 40 employees but wants to double that number. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In its first days, Jones said, customers ranged from the curious to those who are from Asia or have Asian heritage.

“We are getting a lot of military who were stationed in Japan or Korea,” Jones said. “They come in to remind themselves of that time.”


 

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