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Orlando or Jacksonville


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Which City do you like better?  

97 members have voted

  1. 1. Which City do you like better?

    • Orlando
      47
    • Jacksonville
      30
    • Both
      14


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Yeah, Belk is definately not on JCPenny's level. They are Macy's without the name. It is hard to speak to the quality of the few in Orlando, but the one at the Avenues is very nice. They sell everything that Macy's does like Chip & Pepper, Kate Spade, 7 for all mankind, lacoste, and others. They are expanding into a new space to up their game. Since some of the brands they carry will have boutiques in the fall, such as Lacoste, they need to still remain competitive. They will also be competing with Avenues Walk, another upscale town center, when it opens across the highway next fall; not to mention phase III of the Town Center, which will include Macy's, Nordstrom & Neiman Marcus.
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That is so strange that the Orlando stores are not like that at all. Maybe they didn't feel they could compete with the upscale lineup here. I didn't examine the Seminole Town Center location too much, but the location at West Oaks Mall is horrible. They don't carry Lacoste, they carry IZOD, lots of Haggar slacks type clothing, Gant, the men's cologne section isn't even up to date. I hope the Macy's they build at St. John's Town Center is of the caliber of the Millenia Macy's. The Burdine's conversions are still basically Burdine's, except for the Florida Mall, it carries some of the same merchandise as Millenia.
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Yeah, the caliburs are on two different levels. It is kind of like comparing Macy's in Gainsville to the EXCEPTIONAL one that you guys in Orlando have. The Macy's will difinately not dissapoint. It will be competing with two other malls opening in 2009, The Esplanade and Lion's Gate.
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I found that the Belk's located around the Greater Tampa Bay Area (Land O'Lakes, Spring Hill/Brooksville) are not discount chains, but resemble JC Penney, Bealls and Kohl's. Seriously, the interior layouts are even pretty similar with the one level layout. Dillard's and Macy's are more upscale in this area but not near the level of Nordstrom or Neiman like the ones in Tampa or Orlando.

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I found that the Belk's located around the Greater Tampa Bay Area (Land O'Lakes, Spring Hill/Brooksville) are not discount chains, but resemble JC Penney, Bealls and Kohl's. Seriously, the interior layouts are even pretty similar with the one level layout. Dillard's and Macy's are more upscale in this area but not near the level of Nordstrom or Neiman like the ones in Tampa or Orlando.
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  • 2 months later...
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I've lived in both Jacksonville (7 years collectively) and Orlando (7 years), as well as other areas of Florida too. I prefer Jacksonville over Orlando. Why? Because it's closer to the beach and there's more to do in Jax than to just hang out at an over-priced amusement park. There are also things of interest for someone that's not in their 20's & 30's to enjoy. The city as a whole offers a diverse collection of different areas to choose from...San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Downtown, the Westside, the Northside, Southside/Baymeadows/Deerwood and of course the beaches...Neptune, Atlantic, Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra. Jacksonville hosts an NFL team (Go Jags!), the Jacksonville Suns baseball team, a wide selection of colleges (UNF, JU, FCCJ, Jones, etc.) and an impressive line up of shopping/retailers around town...especially at the evolving St. Johns Towncenter. You have easy access to Atlanta (5 to 6 hours), Savannah and the Carolinas (5 to 6 hours); while being within 3 hours of the capital, Tallahassee. You have Amelia Island to the north and St. Augustine to the south...with Daytona and Orlando a short drive away...in case you'd like to go for a visit. Lastly, it's the 'true south' so people tend to be friendlier, which is a big plus in my book.

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I've lived in both Jacksonville (7 years collectively) and Orlando (7 years), as well as other areas of Florida too. I prefer Jacksonville over Orlando. Why? Because it's closer to the beach and there's more to do in Jax than to just hang out at an over-priced amusement park. There are also things of interest for someone that's not in their 20's & 30's to enjoy. The city as a whole offers a diverse collection of different areas to choose from...San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Downtown, the Westside, the Northside, Southside/Baymeadows/Deerwood and of course the beaches...Neptune, Atlantic, Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra. Jacksonville hosts an NFL team (Go Jags!), the Jacksonville Suns baseball team, a wide selection of colleges (UNF, JU, FCCJ, Jones, etc.) and an impressive line up of shopping/retailers around town...especially at the evolving St. Johns Towncenter. You have easy access to Atlanta (5 to 6 hours), Savannah and the Carolinas (5 to 6 hours); while being within 3 hours of the capital, Tallahassee. You have Amelia Island to the north and St. Augustine to the south...with Daytona and Orlando a short drive away...in case you'd like to go for a visit. Lastly, it's the 'true south' so people tend to be friendlier, which is a big plus in my book.
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  • 3 months later...
I've lived in both Jacksonville (7 years collectively) and Orlando (7 years), as well as other areas of Florida too. I prefer Jacksonville over Orlando. Why? Because it's closer to the beach and there's more to do in Jax than to just hang out at an over-priced amusement park. There are also things of interest for someone that's not in their 20's & 30's to enjoy. The city as a whole offers a diverse collection of different areas to choose from...San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Downtown, the Westside, the Northside, Southside/Baymeadows/Deerwood and of course the beaches...Neptune, Atlantic, Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra. Jacksonville hosts an NFL team (Go Jags!), the Jacksonville Suns baseball team, a wide selection of colleges (UNF, JU, FCCJ, Jones, etc.) and an impressive line up of shopping/retailers around town...especially at the evolving St. Johns Towncenter. You have easy access to Atlanta (5 to 6 hours), Savannah and the Carolinas (5 to 6 hours); while being within 3 hours of the capital, Tallahassee. You have Amelia Island to the north and St. Augustine to the south...with Daytona and Orlando a short drive away...in case you'd like to go for a visit. Lastly, it's the 'true south' so people tend to be friendlier, which is a big plus in my book.
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How long ago did you live in Orlando? It has got great historical old neighborhoods that are a lot cleaner and well kept, even though they have been taken over by "non"-southern city types with lots of choices of dining (real restaurants), if my friends from Jacksonville take me to Olive Garden one more time I'll puke. It must depend on the person, whether you like a large metro area with electricity and excitement or a slow paced southern town that is finally getting a lifestyle center 10 years after the rest of the country that still doesn't have everything a top retail destination should have. It's definetly not up to par with The Mall at Millenia or even the Florida Mall and no other mall in Jacksonville compares to the average mall or lifestyle center in Orlando. Did you work for Disney when you lived here because I don't know of anyone who has nothing to do but hang out at a theme park. As for the Jags, it was apparently true that Jacksonville was not a large enough city to handle them, can't fill the stadium and there is already talk of them leaving. If you like a lot less traffic and a slower pace with dull suburbs and inner city and think of St. John's Town Center as a new concept that still is not true upscale retail, just catching up with getting some of the newer retailers that have become popular since the 90's and 2000, a tiny airport, lack of nice luxury resort hotels and casual chic dining throughout the downtown neighborhoods and beyond, a major lack of real nightclubbing, then Jacksonville, or Jackson, Mississippi are for you for sure. And Orlandoans go to the beach constantly, except the beaches in the area are nicer that Jax Beach and if you look at a map, Orlando is not much further away from the beach than Jax is and many Orlandoans own beach condos in New Smyrna, Cocoa or Daytona. When I went to school in Orlando, the beach and surfers were a large part of the culture and the latest beach fashions were always big sellers, Orlando is the home of Everything But Water retail chain and it's too cold in Jax to hang out at the beach much, it's like living in Myrtle Beach or Atlantic City. If you're in to retail, when is IKEA opening up it's Jacksonville location? People can be slow and "friendly" someplace but still not have learned the tolerance to accept many different cultures and lifestyles. Although I've never had much of a problem with my neighbors as being rude, I suppose there are people in Orlando that are in more of a hurry and don't have time to wait on someone to ponder or who moves too slow and keeps them from getting to where they need to go. Orlando is very busy and very congested and there is probably more road rage, but they are probably on their way to see a foreign film or a film festival or a play at the countries largest Fringe Festival, a Magic game, or some other event that you can find happening any night of the week. They could be on their way to Winter Park to shop in a true outdoor upscale shopping enviornment with dining options that include real chefs or anywhere else in the city where they can dine al fresco on a beautiful evening with their dog and watch the beautiful people go by in the latest designer fashions (Not hip hop wear) heading to the latest ultra-lounge walking or in a pedi-cab, many without having to leave their own neighborhood. You can go on to your latest restaurant chain concept or in Jax if your really chic, I think you may have a Cheescake Factory there by now in the only center of activity the city has got which is that St. John's town center. We can dine and browse in many of our metro cities such as Sanford, Winter Garden, even downtown Kissimmee is up and coming. And if we choose we can head to Waterford Lakes Town Center, The Loop, The Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves, or for a little more upscale dining and movie going and a bit of shopping we can head to Colonial Town Park or Winter Park Village, pretty soon the exciting new SoDo area or Thornton Park, College Park or Colonialtown or Baldwin Park, all Orlando neighborhoods, as well as MetroWest and Veranda Park. You can go ahead and mix things up by heading out to Orange Park and the 1970's or that lovely Regency Square area where people dye their hair with Kool-Aid. Oh, there's that Avenues Mall which could be called The Avenues Mall of Anywhere Anytown, USA. Yeah, you can mix it up and go to a Jags game. Or we along the I-4 corridor can mix it up and head over to Tampa for a game or Ybor City or Channelside or funky, hip downtown St. Pete. They are a short drive and aren't a theme park of the "Oldest City in the U.S." which has nothing at all to do once you've taken the tour. And having theme parks does have advantages entertainment wise, like the Hard Rock or House of Blues, and I don't believe there is a Virgin Mega Store up in No'th Floriduh or a CityWalk or Pointe Orlando or the fantastic outlet shopping that keeps expanding. Peace!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the rant about all the great things there are to do in the Orlando suburbs. I can't wait to check that out.

  1. You need to chill out.

  2. You need to look at a map. If by "not much further away" you mean "not close at all" then yes, I agree.

  3. This is exactly the type of reply that brings to light why we typically don't allow this type of thread on UrbanPlanet. You did not made a single constructive comment in that entire rant. You don't have to like Jacksonville, but please consider a more intelligent reply as to why you think Orlando is not overrated. Having more nightclubs and more sprawly shopping centers and crappy Swedish furniture stores won't win many arguments around here.

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Like I said before, rants in response to rants are not what this forum is about.

Jacksonville has a lot more going for it that you might think. There is an urban revitalization happening within Downtown and the Southbank. Now I can't pretend to know everything thats going on in Jax, but its going to impact the city core for the better. Lots of condos towers, and I assume some office and hotel type of things. Jax is also looking at transit around the city. Someone more familiar with these things than I can elaborate. What I know from my personal experience with these cities is that they are not all that dissimilar. Jacksonville has a more historic and large urban core, but in more recent years the cities have sprawled out about the same.

Jacksonville is growing towards the beaches, which is why there is less growth to the north and west. Most of the growth I have witnessed in Jax has been to the east between the river and the ocean. In Orlando there are no beaches, and there are lakes all around, so there is not a general direction that people want to live in. You can live in any part of town and still have the same traffic and same commute and same stores, etc.

I don't know what the deal is with St Johns Town Center or any of that. But then I could really care less about trendy suburban shopping centers no matter what stores they have and no matter what city they are in.

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Like I said before, rants in response to rants are not what this forum is about.

Jacksonville has a lot more going for it that you might think. There is an urban revitalization happening within Downtown and the Southbank. Now I can't pretend to know everything thats going on in Jax, but its going to impact the city core for the better. Lots of condos towers, and I assume some office and hotel type of things. Jax is also looking at transit around the city. Someone more familiar with these things than I can elaborate. What I know from my personal experience with these cities is that they are not all that dissimilar. Jacksonville has a more historic and large urban core, but in more recent years the cities have sprawled out about the same.

Jacksonville is growing towards the beaches, which is why there is less growth to the north and west. Most of the growth I have witnessed in Jax has been to the east between the river and the ocean. In Orlando there are no beaches, and there are lakes all around, so there is not a general direction that people want to live in. You can live in any part of town and still have the same traffic and same commute and same stores, etc.

I don't know what the deal is with St Johns Town Center or any of that. But then I could really care less about trendy suburban shopping centers no matter what stores they have and no matter what city they are in.

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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.

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