I think Jax and Orlando are two very different cities. Orlando is much more cosmopolitan - not just b/c of tourists, but also its ethnic makeup. Orlando started booming in the 1970s so a lot of the locals you see (Whites, blacks, latinos, Asians) are from various regions of the country and the world. Jacksonville, on the other hand, being at the northern tip of the state, close to Georgia, has a much more traditional Southern mix of people. The majority of whites, as is the case with most places in the South, can trace their ancestries to England, Scotland, Ireland, or Germany. Orlando's ethnic makeup is more like that of South FL - lots of whites from up north, which means a lot more people with Italian and East European ancestries mixed in. Orlando's also got a thriving Hispanic population, especially Puerto Ricans, but also Cubans, Colombians, etc. The black population also hails from different parts of the country, as well as the islands.
It's really only in recent years that the population of Jax has started to diversify, and experience a more rapid type of growth. Due to Jax being one of Florida's biggest cities, it hasnt viewed too much as a Southern town, or if it is than it would be considered less conservative than similar sized cities in the South, and more in line with Houston and Atlanta. It's also perceived as much more of a blue collar town when compared to Miami, Orlando, or Tampa, but it's also more affordable. The city's got a lot of potential as it is after all a coastal town, with a lot of room to grow.
If one just looks at population figures you'd think Jax was this bustling city of 800,000 people whereas Miami barely has 400,000. Yet that 800 K figure comprises the entire county of Duval, which is the same as saying Miami has a population of 2.5 million people (Dade County).
Orlando's progress has been so explosive at times that the city hasn't always been able to keep up with the changes. For example, the way its international airport is set up should have been changed years ago. Also, aside from I-4 all you seem to have are toll roads, unlike Tampa with I-75, I-275, I-4, and several toll roads all passing through the city (St. Petersburg is a different story). Part of Orlando's traffic problem arises not just from the toll roads, but by the fact that aside from the 2 million people living in its metro area there's another million or so tourists on any given week. So you've got heavy traffic till 9 from the locals, then as the tourists wake up they take to the roads as well. This is especially prevalent on Fridays, where it seems like there's always an accident and heavy traffic around 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

I think if we we bringing up all 4 of Florida's major metro areas (Jax, Tampa-St. Pete, Orlando, and South FL) I'd pick South Florida. I mean, this is a site called Urban Planet, and South Florida has always been light years ahead of the rest of FL, or even most of the country, in that sense. It's not just that it's densely populated, but also there's a lot of great places to walk around, especially in Dade County. You've got South Beach with Washington Ave, Lincoln Road, Colllins, and Ocean Drive. Over in downtown Miami you have Flagler an Brickell, and the kind of plans they got going on over there are even more ambitious than what they have planned for Atlanta (Atlanta's Midtown will evantually resemble the magnificent mile, AKA Michigan Ave. in Chicago. There's also the streets of Buckhead project opening in less than a year, and something similar in the suburb of Alpharetta). Another part of Miami is Coconut Grove, which is extremely walkable. Same is true for Coral Gables and even parts of Kendall. All these areas offer numerous stores, restaurants, galleries, and more. I'm not just talking about chain stores or cookie cutter restaurants, but a true variety of retail.
Head north of Miami and you can do more walking in Hollywood, and in Ft. Lauderdale you can walk around the streets along the beach, and continue on Las Olas Boulevard. Personally though I prefer to head even further up north to Palm Beach, which is extremely walkable and a very clean and pretty city. They've also done a great job reviving downtown West Palm Beach as you've got both Clematis, and nearby City Place.
As far as shopping malls go, Orlando has Millenia and Tampa has International Plaza, but South Florida has had those kind of malls long before that. Aventura Mall and the Shops at Bal Harbor in the north Miami Beach area, there's also the Village of Merrick Park in Coral Gables with Dadeland Mall and the Shops at Sunset Place nearby, Town Center in Boca Raton, The Gardens Mall in West Palm Beach, etc. Orlando also has some amazing outlet malls with Premium Outlets (one of the best Premium Outlets in the country no less) and Belz, but South Florida has Sawgrass Mills, which is HUGE.

I wouldn't say that Atlanta truly has an original Macy's unless you consider the store at Northlake Mall that was originally Davison's, then Macy's, then Rich's-Macy's, and once again just Macy's. Aside from that, almost all other Atlanta area Macy's stores there today were originally Rich's stores.

The presence of the Macy's name in Atlanta can be confusing. The Macy's name wound up in the 80's in Atlanta when R.H. Macy & Co. renamed the Davison's stores Macy's. Federated Department Stores, which had acquired Rich's in 1976, bought R.H. Macy & Co. out of bankruptcy in 1994 and they merged. Atlanta was a unique market for having Rich's and Macy's stores in about seven area malls; they were too alike, carried the same merchandise, and ending up both being owned by Federated. In 2003 all of the Macy's stores that had been Davison's with the exception Town Center at Cobb (it opened as Macy's and not Davison's but also closed) closed because of the overlap and duplication; Federated did not sell the closed stores to competitors. The Davison's/Macy's stores at Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall were converted to Bloomingdale's. Prior to retiring the Rich's name, Federated branded those stores Rich's-Macy's and then placed the Macy's name on all of its stores (except for Bloomie's) by retiring regional department store names (Rich's, Lazarus, Goldsmith's, Burdine's, Bon Marche).

Federated Department Stores in now known as the Macy's Group.

Not neccesarily true. Mostly, but not totally. The 3 level Macy's at Millenia in Orlando is majorly different from the converted stores. I'm sure Atlanta's original Macy's is better than the converted stores?? Everyone is always amazed at the Millenia Macy's, so much more merchandise and so many more brands.

Yeah because Macy's is nothing special anymore. We have Macy's in Greenbriar Mall and South Dekalb Mall in Atlanta. And if you know anything about Atlanta, you know those are not exactly destination malls!

North Florida's economies are not anywhere near as solid as Central and South Florida, unfortunately. It all comes down to money, they have it, we dont.

I agree that Orlando has changed quite a bit in the past few years, there is definetly a new "chic-ness" that is very apparent. Orange county especially, and South Seminole (SoMo). North Seminole (NoMo) is wealthy but this is the first time in Orlando's history that you can tell suburbanites from city people. I'd say there is a chic-ness to most of Orange and SoMo. The people in NoMo are trendy in an Abercrombie type way (suburban) but in SoMo and Orange there are a lot more designer looking people, who wear a lot of black, and are truly urban in looks and thought. Also the diversity in Orange county really sets it appart, there is a lot of Latin flavor, and middle Eastern and Indian, and Caribean and gay. The census just reported that Orange county is now Florida's second "non-minority" county. Miami-Dade is the other county. A non-minority county is a county that has less than 50% caucasian population. Orange County is now like 45% caucasian.

I'd say Jax does pretty well for its size too.

Another note - I just came back from Richmond, Va. It's about the same size as Jacksonville, but you'd never know it by the level of their shopping offerings. Two upscale malls, one with Macy's and Nordstrom and the other with Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany's.

Even Birmingham has a Saks.

Why, oh why, the disparity?

There are just a few images from about two weeks ago while I was down by the Landing.