The Florida Retail Federation is looking for a few good stores . . . that have been in business in Florida for the past 100 years.
The Tallahassee trade group, which has about 9,000 members, plans to honor the industry's gray beards with a dinner and panel discussion before Florida State University retailing students this fall. The federation also will present them with an all-weather plaque suitable for hanging on their door, identifying them as a Florida Centennial Retailer.
"We figure any business that has survived that long has been through all types of economic climates and headed by several generations of the same family," said Rick McAllister, president and CEO of the federation. "I think we're going eventually find 13 to 15 of them."
In addition to Burdines (the department store chain founded in Miami in 1898), other retailers submitted so far include W.S. Badcock Corp. of Mulberry (1904), Bailey's General Store of Sanibel (1899), Macinson Hardware of Kissimmee (1884) and McLelland's Saddlery of Lake Worth (1892).
