5 Downtown Department Stores that Don't Exist Anymore

3) Ivey's



Ivey’s, or J.B. Ivey & Company began in 1900 as a company in North Carolina. It would expand over the years, opening up in Jacksonville in 1962 as part of the Robert Jacobs Downtown Center development. Ivey’s was a six story, 180,000 square foot department store that feature a free parking garage and restaurant. It was the store’s first downtown location to open up in almost thirty years. During the 1970s, an enclosed multi-level retail galleria mall, connecting the store with May-Cohens was proposed in an attempt to save downtown retail. However, that proposal would never become reality. Unfortunately, conversion of Hemming Park to Hemming Plaza hurt business to the point that Ivey’s closed their doors in downtown for good on July 13, 1985.