JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Historic Eastside is no longer a food desert as a longtime grocery store opened its doors again.
The Corner at Debs store was a community staple for more than 90 years before closing down in 2011.
Now, $3 million later, the store reopened Wednesday with a new look and plenty of additional resources beyond food.
The second floor of the Florida Avenue building, which is owned by LIFT JAX, will serve as a career center. Services will include employment services, job placement, a high school mentorship program, an adult education program and a computer lab.
Goodwill Industries of North Florida will operate the grocery store and career center, and two bus stops are available for residents to access the resources more easily.
Beyond the reopened store, a historic marker across the street shares the background of the store and its owners, Lebanese immigrants who first opened the store at the corner of Florida Avenue and 5th Street in 1921.
People who live nearby said the Corner at Debs serving customers again allows them to buy fresh food like produce and meat at affordable prices, like 94 cents for chicken fingers filets.
Rosalind Harris, who moved to the neighborhood three years ago, shopped at the store for the first time on Wednesday.
“They have everything you want. They have the meat, we have produce, vegetables, frozen food. It is outstanding,” Harris said of her much more convenient shopping experience.
Unlike newcomer Harris, Joann Peterson said she shopped at the store as a little girl and remembers being treated like family.
Peterson, now 73, said Wednesday’s ribbon cutting felt like a family reunion 13 years in the making.
“Thing I liked about them is that they welcomed you into the store. They knew your name. They know about you. They showed love,” Peterson said.
Tim Andrews grew up as friends with the Debs family, who owned the store, and shopped there all the time during the 1970s.
“When you came in the store in the 70s, everybody was treated like family. It didn’t matter who you were. It is just great to see that they are bringing this back, and I am overwhelmed with all of the people that are out here today. It is just a blessing,” Andrews said.
Joe Debs, the grandson of the original owners, said they had to close up shop in 2011 after his father died. He said he knew that move would have consequences for the area, which became a designated food desert.
But with the store back in service, Debs said its legacy of care can continue.
“Each person who walked through that door was an equal to me. No better, no worse. I had to treat that person with dignity, with respect and with love,” Debs said of his memories of the store.
And there’s firm hope that this time the store is here to stay.