ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rui Farias says Webb’s City in St. Petersburg was his playground. 

Founded in 1926, Webb’s City was said to be the most “unusual drugstore,” a one-stop-shop department store with a mix of excitement and cheap deals. 

What You Need To Know

Webb’s City launched about 100 years ago in St. Petersburg, by founder James “Doc” Webb

For more than 40 years, it was an extremely popular shopping center with 77 departments and more than 1,500 employees 

It was a precursor to Walmart, offering a large variety of items at low prices. As shopping centers and big corporations grew, popular businesses dwindled and it closed in 1979

Webb’s City offered families an ‘experience,’ showcasing live mermaids, dancing chickens, and kissing bunnies 

The executive director of the St. Petersburg History Museum, Farias grew up in the city and says he would often hang out at what was dubbed the “world’s most unusual drug store.”

“It was just weird,” Farias joked.

Webb’s City was the brainchild of James “Doc” Webb, a man who dropped out of school at 9 years old and launched Webb’s City about 100 years ago.

Webb fashioned his store as a one-stop shop for anything and everything local families might need.

It was Walmart and Amazon before either came into existence. You could grocery shop, pick up medication, get a haircut, have work done on your car, and sample household furniture — all in one place that offered everything for less.

“His motto early on was ‘stack it high and sell it cheap.’ The gentleman who started Walmart took that from him and ran with it,” said Farias.

But low prices and a large variety were only two of the appeals. Webb’s City was also part store, part circus.

On any given day, you could see kissing bunnies, watch dancing chickens, take in a live mermaid show or enjoy a free circus in the parking lot.

Webb’s City wasn’t just a place to shop; it was an experience. And Webb was the ringleader.

Farias compared his memories of Webb to P.T. Barnum, the legendary showman who co-founded the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

“He was definitely a showman,” Farias said. “Took the rules and bent them a little.”

He was also an innovator. Steve Diasio, CEO of the School of Creativity and Innovation in St. Petersburg, compared Webb to tech mogul Elon Musk, while also likening him to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Leonard da Vinci, and Pablo Picasso during an interview with Spectrum Bay News 9.

“I would say beyond revolutionary,” said Diasio, who teaches some of Webb’s creative concepts at his school. “He was a person who had a vision of what we now know as Amazon and Amazon Prime.”

For more than 40 years, Webb’s City was a St. Petersburg landmark. You could see advertisements for the shopping center, which peaked at 77 departments and spanned 10 blocks, in states around the country.

But by the late 1970s, the rise of the shopping mall led to Webb’s City’s demise. It closed its doors for the last time in 1979.

Its legacy, though, lives on. Webb’s City is often mentioned as having one of the first express lane checkouts — think “10 Items Or Less” — and boasted one of the first escalators in West Florida.

It also lives on in the memories of customers like Farias, who spent so many Saturdays at the shopping center asking his mother to get a haircut because it came with a free ice cream cone.

“Whenever you talk about Webb’s City, there’s always this little twinkle,” Farias said.