MAITLAND, Fla. – A Central Florida citrus staple is changing its business model after 70 years.
“We all started working down here at the age of about 5,” Alinda Lingle said. “I can still picture my dad sitting back at his desk. His office is pretty much the same since he was last here.”
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Alinda Lingle and her older brother Jason invited News 6 inside Hollieanna Groves on Election Day, a day they would normally be opening for the season, but not this year as the family decided to close the Maitland store.
“The outpouring of support on our social media post when we announced we wouldn’t be opening, it was so heartfelt. It was lovely, the comments that we received,” Alinda said.
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Inside the store, there were empty shelves and baskets that year after year were filled to the brim with citrus for community members to purchase.
“Well, this building was built around 1947 and our father partnered up with the owners, Hollie and Anna Oakley, in the early 50s,” Jason explained. “Then he bought them out in 1954, and we’ve been here operating it exactly the same ever since, for over 70 years.”
While Maitland grew, Hollieanna Groves went unchanged.
“This is original machinery that was built and purchased for this house in 1947,” Jason said as he showed where they would process their fruit.
After decades of sticking to their father’s recipe for success, they are now switching to online only as they face industry struggles and reach retirement age.
“It’s kind of come down to logistics and just being able to get the volume of fruit and the different varieties of fruit needed to sustain the business the way we have over all these years,” Jason explained.
Citrus greening disease, a bacterial infection that impacts citrus plants, has hit the industry hard since it started in Florida in 2005.
“A lot of people said that most of us would be out of business within 10 years,” Jason said. “We’re proud that we’ve been able to extend that an extra 10 years by the support of growers and our connections in the industry that have always been there to help us.”
Florida Citrus Mutual Executive Vice President and CEO Matt Joyner said damage from hurricanes has also decreased the state’s citrus supply.
“We continue to be set back by these storms that are obviously causing loss of trees quite a bit of loss of fruit when you have 100 plus mile an hour wind come across these groves,” he said.
Joyner said there are new strategies and therapies in place to combat citrus greening.
“Over the next five to ten years we think we will continue to see a recovery in this industry, a recovery in production, healthier trees, and hopefully more new trees, young trees,” he said.
However, Lingle’s are firm in their decision to scale back its business.
“We’ve done this for a long time and if we felt it was more sustainable for another 20 or 30 years, I’m sure one of our kids would be interested in continuing the tradition,” Alinda said.
While the store is closed, they will continue to ship their products which include gift baskets, marmalades, cakes, and more. Their catalogs will be mailed to customers who can order online, by phone, or by mail.
“We feel very confident that we’re still going to be able to get the citrus fresh from the goodness grove right to your door,” Alinda said.
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