Tired of waiting!

[nanaaapl]

This is just my humble little opinion!

I am just plain tired of wiating for the good stores to come to our area. It seems that developers are totally ignoring North Florida and concentrating a little to much on South Florida. Hasn't that area seen enough of the good stores already! I feel like we are being jipped here in North Florida. I would hope that the major good stores start coming up here and not fickle around till, when they come, the store has been overgrown (example: Super Target in Orange Park before the Ortega Super Target was open). It frustrates me that we have to travel to get to the, what most people call their "everyday" stores now.

[cameronm]

Central Florida does not get a lot of stores either.

[perimeter285]

Central Florida does not get a lot of stores either.

Whatever! You have Mall at Millenia and International Plaza, both of which have the major super-upscale stores.

[copperfiend]

It frustrates me that we have to travel to get to the, what most people call their "everyday" stores now.

Not really sure what you mean. Which "everyday" stores?

[nanaaapl]

Not really sure what you mean. Which "everyday" stores?

For example: Department store Bloomingdales for a quick look at the sales rack. Urban Outfitters to check out the latest trends right quick. Restaraunt wise, California Pizza Kitchen is becoming like Chillis is to us, an everyday restaraunt, but to me it is a "special restaraunt" because I only get to go there every once in a while. Another example is Delias, which isn't even that expensive yet we don't have it.

[UptownNewOrleans]

I think (and I could be wrong) the reason why South FL reaps the development benefits is because that's where the most money is to be made.

[Florida]

I totally understand where the originator of this topic is coming from. North Florida always gets the short end of the stick. I know we've got fewer people, thus we demand less attention, but the economies of the North Florida cities are just as solid as anywhere else and we deserve a little attention also. I live in Tallahassee, where the offerings are much less than they are in Jacksonville, but many people are often frustrated for the very same reasons named above, those being, when a store, restaurant, etc., finally comes to the area, it's lost its luster. I, for once, would love to get something while it is still fresh. Many of the prices at these trendy places in South Florida are often lower that what we pay for the "boring" stuff. A little equity is all I'm asking for.

[VistaLakes01]

As an Orlando resident I am fairly impressed with what's happening with St. John's Town Center. Many of the stores that Jax is getting there Orlando didn't get until our metro hit 2 million and Jax is probably around 1.3 million with no other heavily populated places close by. Larger midwest metro areas such as Columbus,Indianapolis, Cincinatti, even St. Louis don't have some of those retailers yet. I believe that surveys have shown that a large percentage of people traveling to Orlando to Millennia and Florida Mall are from the Jacksonville metro area and must be spending quite a bit of money so in these times of little retail development nationwide I think the retailers have decided to target Jacksonville believing there is little risk of failure. One issue I have with the Jax market is with people watching and seeing people dressed in that high fashion city look. I haven't noticed much of it there at all and I don't think the list of new retailers will add that much to that big

city look. You still need Bloomingdales and Nordstrom and a Macy's of the Millenia caliber, not the Burdines type. I haven't seen the upscale city neighborhoods on the caliber of Orlando's Thornton Park or SoEo or Winter Park or Tampa's SoHo and Hyde Park. (Where you see a lot of people wearing black and having very good haircuts,etc.) And that look is spreading to the inner older suburbs like Altamonte Springs and Uptown Altamonte and the Altamonte Mall area. ST.JTC is a major improvement over any other Jax retail center. Regency and Orange Park are horrible, and the Avenues is not much better. And you are finally getting some dining options where people may feel like dressing a little more fashionable to frequent those places. This is not downing Jax at all, I am just as excited as a North Florida resident because now when I visit Jacksonville there is actually some place to go and see. What would actually add to the "upscaling" of Jax would be a "Blue Martini." It has really added some flair to Orlando, and Tampa. But believe it or not, Jax is ahead of the retail scene for metro areas of its size and you should be excited and proud. And don't forget to come on down to the IKEA grand opening in Orlando in early November. I've never been to one and cant' wait to check out this recent additon to the Orlando retail scene!

[Go Gators]

I totally understand where the originator of this topic is coming from. North Florida always gets the short end of the stick. I know we've got fewer people, thus we demand less attention, but the economies of the North Florida cities are just as solid as anywhere else and we deserve a little attention also. I live in Tallahassee, where the offerings are much less than they are in Jacksonville, but many people are often frustrated for the very same reasons named above, those being, when a store, restaurant, etc., finally comes to the area, it's lost its luster. I, for once, would love to get something while it is still fresh. Many of the prices at these trendy places in South Florida are often lower that what we pay for the "boring" stuff. A little equity is all I'm asking for.

[facilities man]

I think Jax is doing pretty well for the size of the metro area. Better than similar size metro's across the US. Orlando has an advantage in the retail department because of all the tourists, but it's really only the past five years that I'd say Orlando has started to become "chic" in some areas. I'm talking about where people dress up to go out to restaurants, clubs, etc... Not just to the nicest couple places in town, but to anywhere a little upscale, and the number of upscale places has really expanded. There's also more than just one area, (Winter Park / Park Ave.), of upscale places now. There's also, Altamonte Springs, the West Sand Lake Road area, Millennia Mall area, Thornton Park, and a couple other areas on the bubble.

[Spartan]

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

[VistaLakes01]

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

[VistaLakes01]

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.

[VistaLakes01]

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.

[Spartan]

How is it looking now?

It seems to me that Jacksonville probably has one of the more diverse economies in Florida... much less dependent on tourism and spec properties than other cities.