JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The owner of School Uniforms and More at the Regency Square Mall told News4Jax on Thursday that disarray and confusion inside his store has been unfolding since last week and is the result of not being able to hire enough help.
On Monday, parents told News4Jax they were waiting in line for up to three hours to pickup their children’s preordered school uniform or purchase them off the racks. The owner, Elgailani Abdalla, was the only person working the register while lines for checkout stretched throughout the store.
When News4Jax returned Tuesday afternoon, only a limited number of people had been allowed inside.
On Thursday, the store was open, but still in disarray. News4Jax has learned that a handful of women volunteered to help the owner. One of the women, who asked not to be identified, agreed to an interview.
“I’ve been shopping here for the past three years. This guy is super nice, always been helpful and now he’s being bashed in the media,” she said.
Abdalla also agreed to speak with News4Jax. We asked him about the piles of clothing and the long lines.
“Customers, some of them were not helpful. They take the item and if it was not the right size, just dump it on the floor and make it pile up. Very bad,” he said.
Abdalla said he doesn’t have much help and needs to hire about 10 people.
“We need about two or three cashiers and there is no one,” he said.
Some parents that spoke to News4Jax said they ordered and prepaid for uniforms that still haven’t shown up.
“I placed an order on the 15th of July and my order is still not here,” one mother said.
Debbie Hedrick, also a parent, said she made her order a week-and-a-half ago. She was told it would be in by Monday, and she still hasn’t received it.
“They have our money,” Hedrick said. “No refunds and they’re not getting our merchandise to us.”
The owner couldn’t explain the hold-up, but said things were running smooth from July until days before the start of the new school year.
According to online state records, the owner of School Uniforms and More LLC, lost the ability to run a business as a company in 2018 and has been operating as a sole proprietorship.
Tom Stephens, president of the Northeast Florida Better Business Bureau, said that’s when the owner received what’s called an administration dissolution for not filing a required annual report.
“Basically, that corporation no longer exists. He can still operate the business as a sole proprietorship. That is not required to be registered with the state for anything as a sole proprietor,” Stephens said.
According to the Duval County Tax Collectors Office, as a sole proprietor, the owner is required to pay an annual business tax and display the business tax receipt in plain view of his store. The Tax Collectors Office tells News4Jax that the last known record of the owner paying a business tax as a sole proprietor was in 2019.
“The city can get the state attorney to fine him, go after him to shut the business down or to pay the tax,” Stephens said.
The owner admits that his business tax receipt is not displayed in plain view, which is required.
“It’s paid. A matter of fact we paid last month,” Abdalla told News4Jax.
He told News4Jax he has a certificate that shows the store was still an LLC. He was not able to provide the document by the time of publication.