Beachside Seafood Keeps Its Market, and Jacksonville Beach Keeps a Verified Shrimp Source

Beachside Seafood has always had two floors. It sits at 120 Third St. S. in a building that went up in 1954. Lunch and dinner were served upstairs. The fish case was downstairs, where seafood came in and went out over ice. A 2016 Times-Union review called it no-frills and described locally caught fish moving through that downstairs market. It praised handmade crab cakes and fried pickle chips made in house.

This October, the upstairs closes. The market downstairs stays open. That keeps the business at this address in operation, and it's a business with a good record on shrimp this year. When genetic testing checked shrimp dishes across the Jacksonville area this spring, Beachside was one of only 14 places out of 44 whose shrimp turned out to be the American wild-caught product it was sold as. The published results don't say whether the sample came from the restaurant or the market.

What closes, and when

Pearl Hospitality Group bought Beachside in May 2025. In an Aug. 28 release, the group said it would end restaurant service "indefinitely" in October. The release said the building's age and condition called for "a much more substantial level of renovation than could reasonably be completed around daily restaurant service." It also pointed to rising operating costs, more competition at the Beaches and "slower-than-anticipated growth in new customer traffic."

Pearl hasn't announced a final day. The Times-Union's coverage, last updated Sept. 14, said the date was still undecided. Pearl's Sept. 1 statement said the timing depended on operations and the transition schedule. If you want one more plate of fried shrimp upstairs, call ahead before you go this month.

General manager Sheila Noffsinger told Action News Jax she had spent two days talking it over with her team. "This wasn't an easy decision for any of us," she said. The station counted nearly 40 years in business. Beachside opened in 1989.

The market is the part the owners are building on

Pearl partner Raymond De Padua said in the Jax Daily Record that the fish market will stay open and become the group's main focus on the property. The plan is a better market with more on offer, possibly including prepared food, grab-and-go items and retail.

"We are not walking away from Beachside. We are giving ourselves the ability to figure out what this property and this brand need to become for the next generation, while protecting the part of the business that has always been at the heart of Beachside: the market."

That was De Padua in the August release. Nobody has decided what happens to the restaurant space. As of the September coverage, none of the new market offerings had launched and no new hours had been posted.

The market has been heading this way for a while. When Pearl took over in 2025, it described a mostly cosmetic renovation of about $100,000. The early plans included outdoor seating, a longer bar, sushi-grade fish in the case and grab-and-go sushi made on site. Public reporting doesn't say whether the sushi pieces ever arrived. The direction is clear, though. The case downstairs is what the owners want to grow.

What the March shrimp test found

On March 6, 7 and 8 of this year, SeaD Consulting collected shrimp samples from 44 restaurants and seafood markets in the Jacksonville area. The work was done for the Southern Shrimp Alliance, and each sample went through genetic analysis. News4JAX reported the results on March 25:

• 14 of 44 dishes were confirmed as authentic American wild-caught shrimp
• 30 of 44 were imported or farm-raised
• 25 of 44 places described their shrimp as local, Mayport or American wild-caught, through the menu or the staff, when testing showed it was imported
• The misrepresented plates cost about $2 more on average than the authentic ones

Mike Eddy of Beacon Fisheries told the station there is "nothing wrong with serving farm-raised shrimp." His objection was to calling it local. Most states that produce warmwater shrimp have passed laws against that kind of mislabeling. Florida hasn't. As of the Southern Shrimp Alliance's September 2026 update, the state still had no shrimp-specific labeling law. Two 2025 proposals died in committee. With no labeling rule, the only way to know is to ask the counter or the server, and that makes a market you trust more valuable.

Where the verified shrimp sits near the Beaches

The study's list of accurate sellers runs from Arlington to San Jose Boulevard. A cluster sits within a short drive of the Beaches.

Two names on that list also appear in Beachside's history. The 2016 Times-Union review named Mayport C&C Fisheries and Safe Harbor as local seafood suppliers to Beachside. That was ten years ago, and suppliers change. Still, in March 2026, Beachside and both businesses once named as its sources all passed the same test.

Grouper Shack is the newest stop on the list. It opened in the old Bearded Pig barbecue building on Third Street, with co-owner Nathan Stuart behind a $1 million build-out. Most of the menu is $20 or less, and the seafood baskets include shrimp, grouper, fried clams and scallops. The plans also called for a retail area called The Marketplace, selling portioned fish, oysters and crab legs to cook at home. It was still under construction in January. If you want to buy there rather than eat there, check whether it has opened before you drive over.

A single plate is a snapshot

The Southern Shrimp Alliance says plainly that its list comes from a representative sample and a single tested dish at each place. Some kitchens buy both imported and U.S. wild-caught shrimp, so diners should ask about the specific shrimp they're ordering. SeaD calls its restaurant-level results preliminary and says they don't show every source a business uses. The 30 dishes that failed weren't all mislabeled, either. Three places said up front that their dish used imported farm-raised shrimp.

A seafood market has one practical edge here. You're looking at the product in the case, and you can ask the person behind it where the shrimp was landed before you pay. That conversation is easier at a counter than through a menu description. It's also what Beachside's market will offer once the dining room upstairs goes quiet.

A busier downtown around a quieter corner

When Pearl cited "increased competition at the Beaches," it was describing a downtown that has added big rooms within the past year. Alder & Oak opened July 15 at 131 First Ave. N., in the former Jekyll Brewing space next to its sister restaurant, Oaxaca Club. It seats about 300 across the main dining room and Zorbas, the rooftop lounge, which has live music Thursday through Saturday. Grouper Shack's Third Street opening added a second spot that serves seafood in volume. Pearl also runs Izakaya Ko in Jacksonville Beach. The group is already a dining operator in town, which makes its choice to keep the Third Street property focused on the market easier to follow.

For now, the downstairs counter at 120 Third St. S. stays open. Beachside is one of three Jacksonville Beach businesses whose shrimp tested as authentic American wild-caught in March 2026.

Little details like these, from which fish counters held up under testing to which corners are changing hands, are part of how Michael Wright and Suzi Ford keep up with the Beaches. When you're ready to talk about your own place near Third Street or anywhere else on the coast, we're glad to start with what you already know about the neighborhood. Contact Us.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.