A new warehouse and distribution center took shape on the north side of Jacksonville, replacing the warehouse that occupied the rear of the headquarters building. By 1984, Bealls moved its long-time downtown Jacksonville store operation to a new location on South Jackson Street. This move ensured close proximity to many manufacturer's representatives of the apparel industry most had local offices and showrooms in the Dallas Market Center area. Buying operations were moved away from Jacksonville to the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas in 1983. The 1980s brought more changes on the homefront. Meanwhile, three of Robbie Beall's sons were now in high-level positions with the company Royce and Ray were now vice-presidents and R.G. Bealls had reached most parts of Texas, except for the far west and the Panhandle. In 1972, Bealls had grown to 60 stores in Texas and found its way beyond the borders of its home state for the first time, with a location opened in Oklahoma. In the 1960s, a chain-wide modernization of store interiors and operations was underway and more name-brand items could be found in stores. Bealls shifted their home office and warehousing to a new location on East Rusk Street in Jacksonville, east of downtown. Continued growth of the chain led to 38 locations by 1957. ĭespite World War II, store count by 1950 had grown to 19. By 1940, Bealls had 15 stores in the chain.
The Jacksonville store location would move in 1936 from the old Douglas building to the corner of Main and Commerce streets, where it would remain for nearly 50 years. In 1935, the home office moved to the Mayfield Building in downtown Jacksonville. The Beall brothers decided to file for incorporation of the chain during this time. This move would establish Jacksonville as a permanent home office for the growing chain (as well as its eighth store). The Beall brothers won bids for the business of J.L. Pleasant in 1927.īy 1930, there were seven stores in the chain. The Bealls opened a second store in Nacogdoches in 1926 and a third in Mt. The first Beall store was opened in Henderson, Texas in 1923 by brothers Archie and Robbie (and later, Willie). By 1944 he had saved enough to repurchase it. He stayed on as manager through the depression. Hard hit and unable to pay his debts, Robert Beall lost his business to the bank. The Florida boom ended in a few years, only to be followed by the stock market crash.
Business prospered during the Florida land boom of the 1920s in a few years Beall purchased a vacant lot facing the courthouse and erected a new modern department store, which opened for Christmas, 1924. Following World War I inflation, in 1920 Beall renamed his store The Five Dollar Limit. Because the store sold nothing for more than one dollar he called his store The Dollar Limit. Investing his entire savings in merchandise, he used empty wooden packing crates as his first display tables. opened a dry goods store in Bradenton, Florida.
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