ABOUT JESSUPS
Jessup’s of Daytona was originally a hardware store started in 1931 by Charles Jessup. During the Great Depression in the early years of Jessup’s, Charles lived in the back of the original store. Roger remembers him telling of opening the store at 7:00AM and closing at 11:00PM. He explained all of the merchants would watch each other to see who was going to close first. Times were very hard and a merchant could not afford to miss a single sale.
Charles’ daughters, Esther and Ruth Jessup Harshaw eventually joined Charles in the business. Their passion for jewelry rather than hardware prompted the change towards the Jessup’s you see today. Ruth’s son Roger, his wife Barbra Leigh, and Dan Harshaw are the present owners. Dan is the great grandson …