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Terry’s Country Store served as an Atlantic Beach landmark for nearly 50 years, but it will soon become The Creative Cook.
ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla — Terry’s Country Store served as a staple along Mayport Road for the better part of 50 years, but for the past two years, it’s been boarded up.
That won’t be the case for long. The boards will be coming down because two new buyers have a vision that’s coming soon.
“There’s nowhere to go for the last-minute Thanksgiving spices,” said Atlantic Beach resident Kaelyn Bones. “This place seemed like it was open 24/7.”
Bones says Terry’s Country Store was a regular stop for her for years before it permanently closed its doors.
She’s been waiting to see something come in to bring it back to life, and was excited to learn the plan is for another grocery store.
“We’ve got everything on this street except for great food,” said Bones.
Two local chefs bought the space with the plan to merge the old with something new.
“Keep it kind of Terry’s mentality where it’s got a little something for everybody,” said new owner Taylor Pickett. “Not be too bougie or expensive. Grocery store, chef’s table, butcher shop.”
In January 2023, First Coast News ran a story where Mayor Curtis Ford discussed the food desert created when Terry’s closed.
“We actually used your story to help get proof for the loan to buy the building,” Pickett told a First Coast News crew.
“I live down at the other end of Mayport [Road], and you can’t buy an onion or a potato if you’re not Navy to get into the Navy Exchange until you get to Publix, which is 10-15 miles away,” said General Manager David Cook.
Pickett has experience as the chef at Matthews Restaurant in San Marco, and says the chef’s table will be an opportunity for folks to experience dishes made with local ingredients.
“You can go to the Atlantic Beach Farmers Market once a week or go all the way to Riverside, so we’re going to try to build somewhere you can get local produce every day,” said Pickett.
Pickett says they’ll make sure to keep it affordable to help meet the need in the community.
“A bag of potatoes costs what a bag of potatoes costs,” said Pickett. “We’ll sell red bliss potatoes all the way up to caviar and everything in between.”
The new owners are hoping to have the Creative Cook open at some point this summer, but they still have a long road ahead of them.
Pickett says they plan to incorporate the old Terry’s letters as decoration inside the new space.
