June 30, 2021 — While thousands of small businesses across the U.S. have been forced to close their doors, two local fishermen found the perfect opportunity to open up shop during the coronavirus pandemic.
Thirty-one-year-old cousins CJ Owens and Jeff Frye, Jr. embraced entrepreneurship when commercial fishing hit a snag last year.
“At the beginning of Covid, we had a hard time selling stuff because state lines were shut down and we couldn’t ship nothing out,” said Frye. “If we didn’t sell it locally, we didn’t sell it.”
That dilemma inspired the cousins to open North Star Seafood, a quaint fresh seafood market in downtown Jacksonville, at the beginning of May.
“We knew there was a clientele and just tried to figure out how to go forward with it,” said Owens.
Frye said they originally aimed for something smaller than the storefront at 106 Marine Blvd. but decided the highly trafficked location might be a good place to move their product.