JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As a grocery store, it was a staple of the Eastside community for nearly a century before closing its doors in 2011.
Over the past few years, work has been ongoing to not only bring Debs Store back, but expand it to fit the needs of people who life on the Eastside.
Currently Jacksonville City Council is reviewing the multi-million dollar Community Benefits Agreement to revitalize the Eastside. However, different organizations are close to finishing a project five years in the making to eliminate a food desert and lift up one of Jacksonville's forgotten neighborhoods.
"There were a lot of naysayers about what I was trying to do," said Joe Debs, "but I was determined to do it."
Debs wanted to bring his family's store back to its former glory to serve people who live in a food desert on the Eastside. But to restore a building that is more than a century old, he needed help. That's where Tamara Baker and David Garfunkel come in.
"This is the original outside wall of the building," said Baker, CEO of Baker Design Build. "We had to repoint between the brick to make it more stable. This holds up the original building, first floor, second floor and roof."
Part of the work that Baker Design Build and LiftJax are doing is to expand Debs Store from a first floor grocery store to a two level facility that offers groceries and career services for people who live on the Eastside.
"The Debs family is of Lebanese American descent in an African American neighborhood," said Garfunkel, President & CEO of LiftJax, "and this was and is a community staple and people from generations past have always appreciated and loved this store."
For generations a Coca Cola sign was on the side of the building; that's being brought back, along with modern fixtures like an elevator.
"The new door will have hurricane resistant pressures," said Baker.
"The fact that this is such an important community staple that we were able to bring back that people from the neighborhood really understand its importance and then bring it back to the 21st century and beyond is a real gift," said Garfunkel.
"When we began this journey it was to serve the neighborhood but also to preserve the legacy of not only the family but the store and what it meant to the community," said Debs.
Construction began on Debs Store at the end of 2022 and is expected to finish next month. LiftJax expects to beginning serving the community by the end of August.
More information about LiftJax can be found on their website.