5 Downtown Department Stores that Don't Exist Anymore

5) Furchgott's


Women waiting outside Furchgott's in 1949. Photo by Jack Spottswood. Courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/51259

Furchgott's was founded by Leopold Furchgott in 1868. Its flagship store opened on October 8, 1941, at the intersection of West Adams and Hogan Streets. Furchgott's five-story, 60,000 square foot store was the first in Jacksonville to have elevators. It's first floor was said to be as American as cheese and apple pie. Like Cohens, Furchgott's was considered a longtime Jacksonville institution.

Furchgott's shut down its flagship store at 130 West Adams on March 31, 1984. At the time, the chain said it would eventually reopen a smaller one-story store in the space. Those plans failed to materialize by the time the longtime Jacksonville chain closed for good on May 8, 1985.


Article by Kristen Pickrell