Big store's Orlando debut dazzled holiday shoppers 50 years ago

[spenser1058]

Great story by Joy Wallace Dickinson in the Sentinel about the opening of Jordan Marsh in Colonial Plaza Mall in 1962. It, of course, hastened the demise of retail downtown. Ironically, it was supposed to have been built downtown but Orange Buick refused to give up their site at Orange and Livingston (yes, the "curse" on that property applied even then), even though they moved just a couple of years later out on West Colonial Drive. While Ivey's downtown had the resources of its corporate parent in Charlotte, Dickson & Ives across the street wasn't so lucky and went out of business within a year or so of JM's opening.

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-joy-wallace-dickinson-1125-20121125,0,293105.column