Gunnel Humphreys, 79, has hair that is always an adventure on this special day in Edge City. It is a specialized shade of blue, three various blues she mixed up herself.
It serves as a emphasized reminder that you’re dealing with someone who is very different from the norm in he or she’s been operating for 47 times, Edge City, and who has also been content to be out of the major all this time.
A hippy pair, she and her soon business partner Thomas McCleery, a refugee from business career, stood out in traditional Jacksonville as they ran an establishment that drew youthful vigor to the once-stodgy column of area businesses as well as the city that needed it.
She beams as she recalls being asked in the 1970s,” At one point did you notice that you were n’t normal?”
Humphreys has been a regular in Riverside’s Five Points buying area since 1976. She ca n’t remember how many people have told her that she is a Five Points institution.
She is prepared to respond, saying,” I tell people I really be put in one.”
Her day at the shop is coming to an end after nearly fifty years. In January, new owners will take over and intend to keep it operating many like Edge City does right now. Humphreys also rides her bicycle 22 miles every day, making her extremely fit physically. She goes on long rides on Sundays with a few friends. It is referred to as the” Tour de Gunnel.”
Even so, she claims that she thinks it would be a good idea to retire before turning 80 in April. But there’s no denying that she has been content at the shop. Standing at the Edge City shop, she declares,” This is my life.”
Jacksonville trend in New York
When Humphreys and McCleery purchased Edge City in 1975 at the urging of Riverside preservationist/historian/optometrist Wayne Wood, it was a brain shop that sold kaleidoscopic banners, rolling papers, and underground cartoons.
Humphreys worked as a graphic designer for The Florida Times-Union just down the street from where they were residing in the Henry John Klutho room complex on Riverside Avenue. Humphreys claimed that McCleery had just been fired for smoking marijuana and that he had worked as a seller at an uptown metal company.
It’s a common rumor that as he crossed the bridge and walked away, his coworkers watched from windows and speculated as to whether they would leap into the valley. Otherwise, he tore off his knot and threw it in the St. Johns before making his way back to Riverside on foot.
The mind shop, Edge City, became accessible a few days later. It would be ideal for you, Wood assured them.
McCleery was initially hesitant. After all, he was still in the early stages of his liberty from work. However, after some deliberation, the couple decided to take McCleery’s$ 3,000 severance package, borrow another$ 2,000 from a friend, and each of three investors contributed$ 1,000.
On January 12, 1976, they began operations at 1017 Park St.
They thoroughly remodeled Edge City and filled it with women’s clothes that was unavailable elsewhere in Jacksonville. They also developed relationships with developers while shopping in New York.
By collaborating earlier on manufacturers like Vivienne Tam, Steve Madden, and Betsey Johnson and offering low-cost items like tote sacks and a variety of hair clips, they staked out their own country and sense of style.
Humphreys dyed her hair in a variety of bright colors, and McCleery did n’t shave for about ten years while growing he big, dark beard. Good music was playing throughout the store.
We were the outlaws, according to Humphreys. ” No one anticipated that we would endure. That is what we were told.
However, they were successful in Jacksonville, where ample buyers were eager to take advantage of their unique offerings. They closed the last of their money four and a half decades after starting and were well on their way.
Edge City was the cleanest location, according to Wood. Tom was elected governor of Five Points once it was established, and the rest is history. It was a haven for creative young people to visit thanks to Gunnel’s incredible sense of style, where they could not only see the newest New York trends but also pick up some of his creative flair. If they could obtain anything from Edge City, it would undoubtedly be the most recent.
New users are supporters of Edge City
After the vacations, Humphreys intends to close the business. The new masters, Cheryl Croft and her child Laura, intend to resume in the middle of January.
Cheryl Croft claimed that she, her daughter, and her daughter, who is 16 years old, are all supporters of the shop. They have all been clients and want it to stay largely unchanged.
Humphreys may be involved in that. She has now joined them at the Atlanta Apparel Market and intends to go shopping with them in New York in February. She can then offer them to the designers and demonstrate her years of experience to them.
According to Croft,” The globe needs more Brim.” She is simply one of the most beautiful persons you have ever met. She exudes a great deal of joy, fashion, and school.
Retail has undergone significant change. However, Croft is confident that a location like Edge City is still in need.
It is distinctive in that it is extremely fashionable but is actually marketed to the Jacksonville area in which it resides, she said. ” Keeping stores like this in our society is so essential to us. Maybe you want to maintain it and test it on instead of just making an online purchase. And you desire something special that is n’t available to everyone.
The Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville is house.
Humphreys was raised in a jute village in Sweden. After marrying an American in Germany, she relocated from Europe to Jacksonville. They finally got divorced in the United States, and she intends to stay in Riverside when she retires. Since its early years, she has been actively involved in Riverside Avondale Preservation, which has prevented the ancient town from being demolished. It has long since become what she considered to be her home.
She remarked,” I’m just sort of a part of the neighborhood’s fabric.” ” I mean, if people think I’d move to Sweden and sit there?” No opportunity at all.
Although Humphreys and McCleery briefly owned a dark VW Karmann Ghia ( they adored its sleek design ), for the majority of their relationship they remained car-free because, according to them, all they required was nearby.
She is still without a vehicle. She flashes a sardonic grin. She remarked,” I’m not, um, a part of that problem.”
Different objectives for Humphreys and McCleery included gathering a sizable selection of regional artwork in their house in Riverside. ” We made a click. She claimed that” we were exactly like a team.” ” That’s what I needed at the time, and he was a pleasant man.”
Tears, applause, and plenty of pasta as Kostas Pizza Italian closes after 41 times are among the Old Five Points.
McCleery suffered a stroke and passed away in 2016 at the age of 73.
Humpheys claims that she is now excellent, living independently, and supported by a large number of friends. ” We’ve experienced all together, including calamities.” Associates are the reason I’m here. Without a doubt. I also adore Five Points. I adore the absurdity of Five Items. That preacher over there?
A city keeper’s enhanced voice booms from a local corner as she is speaking. She grins at that because she is accustomed to him.
She smiles as she recalls the past, recalling how McCleery again visited New York City wearing drawstring cotton pants and a handwoven Guatemalan belt, and how someone when questioned him about his faith.
She remembers how, as they locked up, they may cause a little commotion by riding scooters to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Tom had a bandana wrapped around his head, and I believe I was wearing online boots and shorts. We simply did n’t give a damn. How come we did? We were all completely in charge of our own life, she claims. ” That’s a liberating sensation.”