JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A former Jacksonville smoothie shop owner says she was blindsided by a hidden noncompete at The Avenues Mall \u2014 one she claims was never disclosed in her lease. And it ultimately forced her to shut down after just five months.<\/p>\n
Patrice Landers thought opening Juice Me Too in her hometown would be a fresh start. Before opening day, she even posted celebratory videos on Instagram. But she says things quickly soured when mall management questioned how many smoothies she planned to sell. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n According to Landers, they told her, \u201cWe have a tenant who has basically been grandfathered in that has exclusive rights to sell smoothies. And so there\u2019s a conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Landers says her signed lease never mentioned any exclusivity for another smoothie shop. She says it even stated she had the right to sell smoothies, telling Action News Jax, \u201cOur lease never said anything about another smoothie bar. It actually shows in our lease that we have the right to sell smoothies.\u201d<\/p>\n Just days before her scheduled opening, she says the mall informed her that an existing business already held first dibs on selling smoothies.<\/p>\n She says that mall management then ordered her to remove all references to smoothies from her windows and menu. \u201cTold me I had to remove all graphics from our windows. We had to come up with another name for smoothies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n So she improvised, renaming her shop \u201cCold Cups\u201d \u2014 a label she and a team member made up on the spot. \u201cWhen I gave management that name, we were told to put the graphics on the window and on the menu,\u201d Landers said.<\/p>\n But she says the forced rebrand confused customers and affected sales. After five months, she shut down the Jacksonville location. \u201cI\u2019m running my business in Atlanta and we\u2019re still suffering from the challenges that we faced and were exposed to in Jacksonville,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n