Furchgott's built a completely-new store in 1941, and eventually occupied the first floor of an adjacent building in downtown Jacksonville.
Furchgott's
130 Adams Street
Jacksonville, Florida
ELgin 5-8844
DOWNTOWN STORE DIRECTORY (70,000 sq. ft.)
Main Floor
Jewelry • Handbags • Purse Accessories • Gloves • Neckwear • Hoisery • Lingerie • Hat Bar • Cosmetics • Sportswear One • Stationery • Candy • Gift Bazaar
Store for Men Men's Furnishings • Men's Clothing • Men's Sportswear • Men's Shoes • Men's Hats • The Student Shop
Second Floor
Sportswear • Career Shop • Misses' Dresses • Coat and Suit Salon • Better Sportswear Collections • Crystal Room • Bridal Salon • Fur Salon • Better Millinery • Shoe Salon • Junior Shop • Foundations • Negligees
Third Floor
Budget Shop • Casual Dresses
Youth Center Prep Shop • Boy's Shop • Teen Shop • Girls' Shop • Infants' Shop • Toddler's Shop • Children's Shoes • Toys • Luggage • TVs and Stereos • Records
Fourth Floor
Bedding • Linens • China • Silverware • Glassware • Rugs • Floor Coverings • Draperies • Housewares • Fabrics • Art Needlework
Fifth Floor
Executive Offices • Credit Office • Cash Office • Employees' Terrace
BRANCH STORES (1956-1975)
160 N. Beach Street
Roosevelt Mall (1961)
Regency Square (1967)
Orange Park Mall (1975)
How is Furchgott's pronounced?
ReplyDeleteFurch gots
DeleteNope. I grew up in Daytona Beach and my mom was a bona fide Jersey Girl who knew the pronunciation of such things. We got a lot of our school clothes at Furchgott's - and the way she pronounced it was kind of like "Fush-gits." A soft 'u' or 'oo' sound. Southerners couldn't do it right. Mom was not Jewish but hung around with enough Jewish people when she was growing up to have it down.
DeleteLOL! Jersey girls annunciate only moderately better than New Yorkers. That is to say, terribly.
DeleteActually, both are right. The Charleston branch of the family says it like "fersh gits," but the Atlanta and Northern branches of the family lean toward "furch gotz." To make matter more confusing, some of the family spells it Furtchgott, which is clearly in the "furch got" pronunciation camp. I am one of the Furchgotts, and being in the north, now, I stick to "furch got."
DeleteI would love to know who you are, just for " old time sake." I worked at Furchgott's on the fourth floor. That was a Mr Sawdowski's (sp) floor. He was the Manager of that floor. He was forever bothering me as to how many towels I had sold lol.
DeleteThen, occasionally, I was sent to do the "live model" poses in the windows. Hard not to laugh when people found out you were live. What fun it was working for such a great family !!
I will let a native Floridian answer that question.
ReplyDeleteYou might find this interesting
ReplyDeletehttp://jaxhistory.com/Jacksonville%20Story/Picture%20of%20Furchgott's%20Page%20One.htm
The Furchgott's in Daytona Beach was a very nice store....low key and elegant. Down the road and across from the beach in a shopping center (not sure the name...but it had a very large Woolworth's) had an Ivey's and a Belk-Lindsey. Can anyone remember if there was also an Ivey's next to the Furchgott's???
ReplyDeleteIvey's was near Hemming Park. Furchgott's was on the south side, Ivey's was north & a bit around the corner as I remember. Cohen Bros was across the street directly north of the park. BTW, our multi-generatioal Southern family pronounced Furchgott's Furch-guts, accent on the first syllable.
DeleteCorrect above...also Furchgott's w had the diwntown location on Adams Street, NOT near Hemming Park. The "Southside" store was in Regency Square, beginning when that mall opened, located between Arlington, the beaches and the Southside areas, intersection of Southside & Atlantic Blvds, where Arlington Expressway connects to Southside Blvd.
DeleteI am not sure about the Ivey's location, but there was one (a relatively small store) indeed in downtown Daytona Beach. I will do some research and report back.
ReplyDeleteBAK
Originally opened as Yowell-Drew Co. in 1927(headquartered in Orlando), the store was known as Yowell-Drew-Ivey from 1944 until the 1950s when it became simply "Ivey's."
ReplyDeleteIt was located at 166 South Beach Street at Magnolia Avenue in a 3-story building that apparently still exists.
In 1962, the store opened "Ivey's Little Shop," a branch in Bellair Plaza on North Atlantic Avenue. (Belk-Lindsey was there, too)
BAK
BAK
ReplyDeleteWOW I am impressed by your quick response! Yes it was the Bellaire Plaza now i remember).... As a kid in the 60's I remember standing outside the Woolworth's store and there was a display of wooden hands with two fingers in the symbolic "peace" V. There were also other wooden hands with only one finger. I remember asking my Mom "what does that mean"?...her response "Ask your Father". Of course I asked Dad. His response was "Never you mind". On to Ivey's or Belk-Lindsay!!!
Still no answer on the pronounciation.
ReplyDeleteComing from a person with an unwieldy last name, Furchgott's probably isn't terribly easy to pronounce. When I think of all of the time that marketing people spend trying to "come up" with catchy names, it is refreshing to remember that there was a time when:
ReplyDeleteA) people had pride in the value of their own name.
and
B) The general public wasn't so dumbed-down that they had trouble with anything past one syllable.
I am indeed philosophizing, but that's my opinion.
Perhaps our Florida-friend above can solve the mystery?
Bruce
To anonymous above:
ReplyDeleteYour dad sounds like my dad!
Bruce
I think (but not sure...it was so long ago), that it was FUR-GOTTS.
ReplyDeleteHi! I was a buyer for the Florida Jacobson's stores and Furchgott's was a competitor of ours when we went into the Jacksonville market in 1980.I believe my boss worked for them prior to Jac's.Anyway, he always pronounced it like it is spelled....Furch-gott's. Simple!They closed up shop not long after 1980,I remember, and we felt truly sad for them;but,of course,hired many of their sales associates.
ReplyDeleteMistake on the year Jacobson's opened in Jacksonville, Fl.......1983,not 1980!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Daytona. The Furchgott's store (it was pronounced "Fershgots" or "Ferchgetz" depending on where you were from) It was a great little family store. I still have my strawberry charge plate and even a box or two from there. As a kid it was the only place in town to have an escalator and had originally been the Daytona Sears, Roebuck store which moved up the block to Third & Beach in the mid-50s and Furchgott's moved down from Jacksonville. They also had a little specialty store in the Volusia Mall which opened in 1974 and to which both the Downtown Ivey's and Sears moved when it opened. Furchgott's though with the exception of the little mall shop stayed downtown until they closed in 1981 or 82 as I remember.
ReplyDeleteI'd say your second pronunciation comes close. Accent on first syllable and the second syllable vowel more like a schwa.
DeleteOh the memories....as a kid we always traveled down to Daytona Beach and we would always shop at Furchgott's, Ivey's and Belk Lindsey. All three stores were very nice. Good service, nice goods, and always a nice shopping experience. Somehow they all had different stuff than what you could get at home. Now they are all gone (although Belk-Lindsey's exists today as Belk's).
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see an Ivey's display....
ReplyDeleteIvey's was a very nice store....it had great southern charm
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to an excellent article in Metro Jacksonville on the history of Furchgotts (which, by the way, is pronounced Fersh-gotts):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jan-remembering-furchgotts-department-store
And while we're talking about Jacksonville department stores, here's a link to the same website's history of Cohen Brothers (May-Cohen's):
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-nov-may-cohens-jacksonvilles-big-store
And, a history of the rise and fall of the "new" downtown Sears store:
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jun-sears-the-cadillac-store-of-the-south
Finally, as long as I'm posting links, here's my blog on historic neighborhoods and buildings:
http://mikeshistoricbuildings.blogspot.com/
it was pronounced fursch-gots
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the pronunciation! I won't "Furchget" it!
ReplyDeleteDefinitly Firsh-gts with accents on 1st syllable. My first job out of college was working in their advertising department. The manager would go nuts about the phone operators in the next office over answering the phone, "Good morning/afternoon. Furch-gots. How may I help yewww?"
ReplyDeleteHi. This is as close as I have come on my recent search to find archival material on Furchgott's in Jacksonville, FL. I spent most of my childhood in Jax and one of our neighbors was a buyer for the Women's Dept. at Furchgott's. She commissioned my Mom to design some specialty items for the store one year, starting with some Holiday 'Hostess Aprons' (def not a kitchen item but more like a velvet jumper). They sold out in no time and so she had some hats and halter tops commissioned as well. I remember there was a full page ad for the Holiday Hostess Aprons but not sure of the spring/summer items. I would like to try and track this down and surprise my Mom but my memory escapes me on the year...I'm guessing 1969 or 1970. Certainly no later than 1972. I have been to JAX in many many years so I cannot even remember the name of the newspaper at that time to start a search in their archives. Think you could help? :-) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI worked there also (while in college). I was in the Regency location. It was a beautiful store.
ReplyDeleteI worked in designer and better dresses stocking, steaming, running the fitting room and doing gift wrap (customers could have anything gift-wrapped in the paper of their choice). The saleswomen in that department sat across from their customers at lovely little desks. If they wanted to see the fit of something new, they would have me try it on-great fun for a broke college girl!
I worked in Advertising at Furchgott's downtown location in Jacksonville in 1971 - 1972. The name was pronounced Fursh-guts with the accent on the Fursh. The Advertising Director at the time, Mary Ann Limbos, would get very irritated with the store phone operator next door who would answer the phone, "Gewd morning, Furch-gots. Howah may Ah help yew?" Ms. Limbos would go in at least weekly to correct the pronunciation...to little effect.
ReplyDeleteThat's both funny and charming at the same time. I can just imagine it!
ReplyDelete-Bruce
Furchgott's is pronounced furch gots. It was my dads store. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jill. I have to ask, if your family has any pictures of the main store or branches? As you can tell, they are quite thin on the ground. I am also interested in adding a capsule history of the company. You may contact me at bakgraphics@comcast.net.
DeleteThanks for any help you might be able to provide so your father's store won't be forgotten!
-Bruce
I have a advertisement from 1929 would just be glad to send a copy photo of it but would need to know where to send it my email address is Minniesikes.me@gmail.com
DeleteI worked at the Daytona store after High School, it was a lovely elegant place, and I sold stocking and panty hose from behind a full service counter.
ReplyDeleteI worked at Furchgott's in downtown Jacksonville in 1969-1970. At that time I worked on the third floor selling televisions and home entertainment equipment. The credit dept and offices were on that floor. All the ladies depended on me to keep them up to date on their soap operas.
ReplyDeleteThey had a break room in the basement for employees to brown-bag, and there was always a Bridge game going. You sat down and ate your lunch while playing, and someone else would take your place when you had to get back on the floor. If you didn't play bride, you could kibitz. Always interesting conversations happening. I've lived in Jacksonville all my life, and the pronunciation of the store name was always "Furch-gotts".
Jill, work with your family for years. Downtown with the buyers, 1974, when opened the Orange Park Mall location in 1975, went on to be the Department Manager at your Roosevelt store. Worked with the company over 8 years, When worked with your mother at the Realest Company for many years.
DeleteJill, I remember your dad, and also Mr Longnecker, the credit manager, and Louis Sapolsky, one of the buyers.
ReplyDeleteWe always pronounced it Furch-gotts. Went to the Roosevelt Mall store a lot.
ReplyDeleteI have many pictures in the 1950's of myself and my brothers on Santa's lap that were taken at Furchgott's.
ReplyDeleteI worked for the Daytona Beach Mall boutique and it was in 1981 1982 & 3.
ReplyDeleteThe downtown store was open then. I was the assistant manager and I used to go to the Beach Street store.
So the dates above do not seem correct. I loved the Oscar de la renta perfume we sold in the mall store. The only perfume we sold. And i still wear it to this day. It was a very nice store with quality in there merchandise.
HyVee was built next to the universal Marion building they were both built at the same time. Because as a teenager I worked on both buildings during the summers and actually was there when Ivy's was outfitted and we brought in all the goods and merchandise in the store for its grand opening
ReplyDeleteI hsve already commented here, but the MetroJacksonville site as someone else mentioned is a good source for research, also FloridaMemory.com. I worked at Furchgott's for a few months in 1970, in the very small accounting office next to the advertising dept.I remember Mr. Sapolsky, since he & Elizabeth Taylor (Personnel Dept.) hired me because of my "arithmetic" skills, as Mr. Sapolsky said 🤣 I remember one of the branch store managers could be rather gruff whenever I called to get daily sales $$ in each dept of their store!! It's a shame such a nice, classy retail chain closed. And...it's Furch gots, the *Fur* pronounced like "fur" of an animal, *ch* as in "cherry", and the "short" vowel sound *o* in gotts.
ReplyDelete