“Here is the opening of the new Wards Store at Normandy Mall. It was a high school band playing but I don’t remember which.” LS
It must have been quite the big deal. The Montgomery Ward opening was preceded by Jacksonville’s first three malls, the Gateway Center in 1958, the Philips Highway Plaza in 1960 and the Roosevelt Square in 1961. The information that I have found varies but the 107,400 square foot Montgomery Ward appears to have opened around 1964 as a stand-alone store followed by the fully enclosed Normandy Mall opening a number of years later. Montgomery Ward changed it’s name to Jefferson Ward in 1980 then back to Montgomery Ward in 1986, closing for good in 1988. In 1996 the former Ward space was purchased and renovated into a Winn-Dixie Marketplace with storefronts for eight businesses. The new shopping center was renamed the Normandy Village.
Tags: 000209, business, historic photography, Jefferson Ward, mall, Montgomery Ward, Normandy Mall, Normandy Village, shopping, vintage photograph
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I would wager that this is probably Paxon high school that is performing. Paxon is closeby and Normandy Mall was the place to go for many of us who lived in the Paxon area. Also – since it’s black and white, we can’t tell what the uniform colors are, but Paxon is Blue and Gold (with a little white thrown in)
There was a separate but attached building behind the north end of the mall that housed a Woolco store. Later, Sam’s Club occupied that building before it moved to Argyle Forrest on Youngerman Circle.
I worked at Jefferson ward from 82 to 85, when they closed. Loved that job.
I worked at this MW in the late 70s while in high school at Lee. I was a jack of all trades. Unloading trucks, stripping and waxing floors in the styling salon, pumping gas at the auto center, even doing plumbing work in the restaurant. A friend I hadn’t seen since 2nd grade, Nancy, worked in the candy stand. It was so cool to see her again after all those years. They flew the American Flag on the roof and it had to be taken in every night. One night I was taking it down and somebody closed and locked the door to the roof, leaving me stuck up there. I yelled below for someone to come get me, but no one was coming in or out or just blew me off. I finally had to jump off the roof onto the roof of a semi trailer parked at the loading dock, and then from it to the top of the trash compactor, then down. The girls that worked in the optical department were big flirts. There was a Winn-Dixie across the parking lot, and some of the lights in their sign were burnt out so that it said Disco Foods instead of Discount Foods. It was like that for years.