Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams is planning to open a scoop shop at 1020 Park St. in Jacksonville's Five Points neighborhood, putting the Columbus, Ohio-based chain directly in the path of its biggest rival, which already scoops cones from across the street. No estimated opening date has been listed for the new location, according to information the company's public relations representative shared in an email sent Aug. 31.
The address sits inside the historic Five Points Theater building, as reported by the Jacksonville Daily Record. That puts Jeni's just steps from Ben & Jerry's, which opened at 1027 Park St. and sits across the street from the FIVE entertainment venue. The Ben & Jerry's shop is locally owned and operated by Jacksonville franchisees Justin and Diana Renaldo, who completed a $135,000 build-out of the 844-square-foot space in mid-2026, according to Business Debut. Hoodline previously reported on the city approvals and permit filings behind that Ben & Jerry's scoop shop launch.
A Corporate Giant Moves Into a Landmark Building
Jeni's is a considerably bigger operation than its neighbor. The company reported $150 million in sales during 2025 and operated 95 retail shops across 30 markets that year, according to Inc. The chain currently lists 32 locations and serves 33 flavors of ice creams and sorbets, with shops spread across Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., along with Florida markets in Orlando, Tampa, and Sarasota.
The 1020 Park St. address sits inside the Five Points Theater building, a 35,000-square-foot structure designed by architect Roy Benjamin that opened in 1927 as the Riverside Theatre — the first movie theater in Florida equipped to screen sound motion pictures, per the Jacksonville Daily Record. The landmark underwent a $5 million historic renovation in the mid-2000s. Decatur, Georgia-based Union South Partners bought the building for $7 million in May 2024 through an entity called 1028 Park LLC and launched a $2 million renovation plan to modernize the complex.
Neighbors in the Same Historic Building
Jeni's won't be the only new tenant angling for space inside the theater building. Fresh pasta concept DalMoros Fresh Italian is expanding into 1018 Park St. within the same structure and expects to open in fall 2026, a move Hoodline covered in its report on DalMoros picking the theater building. Before that, Greek pastry shop Lukumades filed a permit application in November 2025 for a $300,000 interior build-out of 1,020 square feet at that same address, having previously opened its first U.S. location in Jacksonville Beach in early 2025.
The building's entertainment anchor is FIVE, the live performance venue that venue management company Marathon Live created out of the former two-screen Sun-Ray Cinema after Sun-Ray's 13-year lease expired in July 2024. That space had previously operated as Club 5 in the 1990s, per the Jacksonville Daily Record's reporting.
New Leadership Behind Jeni's National Push
Jeni's expansion into Jacksonville follows a leadership shake-up at the top of the company. In April, Jeni's appointed David Stever, the former chief executive officer of Ben & Jerry's, as its new CEO to lead national retail, grocery, and franchise expansion, a hire Hoodline detailed in its coverage of the ousted Ben & Jerry's boss landing at Jeni's. Stever spent more than two decades with Ben & Jerry's before joining his former rival, according to Restaurant Dive.
Jeni's ice cream pints already sit in roughly 15,000 retail stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Target, Kroger, and Albertsons, per Restaurant Dive, giving the brand substantial name recognition well before any Jacksonville storefront opens. The company launched a franchising program in late 2025 aimed at accelerating brick-and-mortar growth nationwide. Jeni's was founded in 2002 by James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Jeni Britton at Columbus's North Market and earned Certified B Corporation status in 2014 for meeting strict social and environmental standards.
National Brands Arrive as Local Fixtures Depart
The Jeni's announcement lands amid a broader wave of turnover along the Five Points commercial corridor. Long-standing independent restaurants Mossfire Grill and Al's Pizza both closed permanently within the past year — Mossfire after 27 years and Al's Pizza after 23 years on Margaret Street — with merchants citing shifting dining habits and rising operational costs, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record's reporting, which Hoodline also covered in its piece on Al's Pizza joining the Five Points exodus.
Jeni's isn't the only national chain moving in to fill the gap. New Orleans-based frozen daiquiri chain Fat Tuesday announced plans in July to open at 1045 Park St., taking over the space once occupied by independent live music venue Rain Dogs, which closed on New Year's Eve 2024. Hoodline reported on that shift in its coverage of Fat Tuesday's Riverside comeback. Whether Five Points can absorb this influx of well-capitalized national brands while retaining its independent character remains an open question for the neighborhood's merchants and longtime residents alike.
