West Marine has opened its flagship and largest store measuring 30,000 square feet in Jacksonville, FL. The store, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal, is about four times larger than the company's average size
store and will offer 16,000 national and local products compared with
7,000 to 8,000 products in the average store.
The Jacksonville store
has several unique features that include a 300-square-foot model
flybridge and a model fishing shack. The store also has skylights
designed to reduce the need for electricity as part of the company's
overall goal of energy efficiency.
The boating retailer had started planning for the Jacksonville location started a year-and-a-half ago, before the economy declined.
West Marine Inc. operates 343 stores mostly in the U.S.,
including 97 in Florida and five in the Jacksonville area.
