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A tentative reopening Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Stores and restaurant dining rooms open doors to light crowds on first day of easing of COVID-19 restrictions. FROM STAFF
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The malls are open, but the crowds are light. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s statewide plan to gradually lift COVID-19 restrictions on retailers and restaurants launched May 4, but early in the day, response was tentative. The plan allows restaurant dining areas and retail stores to reopen at 25% capacity. The reopenings must follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for social distancing. Restaurants opening indoor and outdoor seating will be required to have 6 feet of space between tables. DeSantis said Floridians should continue to avoid groups of more than 10 people and face masks are recommended. Gyms, movie theaters and personal services businesses, like hair salons and barbers, will remain closed. “I have no problem going to a restaurant and dining,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said May 3. “I’m sure we won’t tonight because we have a refrigerator full of food, and my wife asked me this morning what I wanted for dinner tonight. But, I’m perfectly comfortable with going and I’m sure we will be going in short order.” Here a look at how the reopening went around Northeast Florida:
At Town Center, a first date, sparce crowds and many stores still closed
Greg Lawless of St. Simons Island, Georgia, and Sharon Alley of Jacksonville looked for coffee at St. Johns Town Center as it prepared to open May 4 so they could get to know one another. It was the first date for Lawless, an IT professional, and Alley, a Baptist South registered nurse who works the night shift in ER. They met on Match.com and chose the Town Center for an outdoor walk They met at 10 a.m. and strolled the
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Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
St. Johns Town Center reopened at 11 a.m. May 4, but there were plenty of parking spaces and many stores remained closed.
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length of the center. By 10:30 a.m. at the south end of the center, they hadn’t figured out their lunch plans. “Coffee first,” Alley said. They scored coffee later when Alley ordered it online from Panera Bread for takeout because Starbucks and Barnes & Noble were closed. At 12:40 p.m., Lawless and Alley sat talking and laughing outside Maggiano’s Little Italy, one of the few restaurants open for dining in. They figured they would probably eat there. St. Johns Town Center, the area’s major regional shopping area at Interstate 295 and Butler Boulevard, opened at 11 a.m., but relatively few stores
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Greg Lawless and Sharon Alley met for their first date at St. Johns Town Center.
Photo by Scott Sailer
For the first time in weeks, customers eat inside Jumpin’ Jax House of Food Downtown. Restaurants are limited to 25% capacity.
opened and those that did asked customers to follow social distancing rules and several required that guests wear face masks. Some retailers kept doors locked to allow customers in only when capacity allowed. Shoppers arrived, but plenty of parking remained at noon, both in the lots and along the main street. Visitors asked others along the sidewalks which stores were open. Patricia Gundy of Jacksonville waited outside Bath & Body Works to replenish her lemon hand
At Hemming Plaza Jewelers at 231 N. Hogan St., co-owner Juan Gonzalez serves a customer inside the store. The store didn’t close because of the pandemic, serving customers curbside. Photo by Scott Sailer
SEE REOPENING, PAGE 2
Publix to renovate stores on Hodges, Dunn Avenue Publix Super Markets Inc. will renovate two more Jacksonville grocery stores at a job cost of almost $1.74 million. The city issued permits April 29 for Elkins Construction LLC to remodel the stores. Both are 37,487 square feet. Elkins will renovate the Publix at 4765 Hodges Blvd. in Windsor Commons Shopping Center at a cost of $989,000. It was built in 2000. A Publix-related company bought the South Jacksonville center in 2019. Elkins will renovate the store at 1100 Dunn Ave. in the Highland Square center in North Jacksonville at a cost of $749,000. American Commercial Realty Corp. owns Highland Square.
VOLUME 107, NO. 120 • ONE SECTION