The Trading Post Celebrating 63 Years in Islamorada

Key comes from the Spanish word “cayo,” and it means reef or low island. There are l700 hundred of them in the Florida Keys. Driving down Route 1 from Miami, along the Everglades National Park, you know you’re in the Keys when you start to see signs advertising “Bait.” Islamorada, the village that comprises Upper Matecumbe, Lower Matecumbe, Windley and Plantation Keys is known for its fishing while Key Largo attracts the divers.

Passing the town of Tavernier you come to an establishment called the Ocean View bar, which has retained its name though due to a hurricane it was swept across the highway and now faces a golf course. Many of the homes you see are on stilts since it’s the only way they can be insured…Facing The Cheeca Lodge, the sprawling resort in Upper Matecumbe, is a 24 hour store called The Trading Post, outside of which is the display for a plot of artificial turf with the picture of a boy and his dog and the question “Has you grass EVER looked THIS good? followed by the misspelled “ask inside for detals.”

by Francis Levy

Read more here – Source: The Screaming Pope: Florida Keys Journal: The Trading Post

The business was originally established in 1954 by Eddie Morton, whose wife wanted a grocery store in the area.

Betsy Jacocks is celebrating 51 years of proprietorship within her family.

In the 1960s, her parents, Donald and Marion Jacocks, came to Florida because her father had bought into an iron-ore mine in Cuba. “We all know what happened there,” Jacocks said with a chuckle. “He ended up driving a cab in Miami Beach, while my mother worked at Sears and Roebuck. They were penniless.” In 1966, Jacocks’ uncle had a store-inventory service that her parents helped out with, so they went down to the Keys to do an inventory for Ed Morton, the owner of the Trading Post at the time.

“He said, ‘I hate this business so much, I’d sell it for 10 bucks.’ And my dad said, ‘Sold.’” The couple eventually bought it for $46,000.

From The Trading Post website.

Family owned and operated since 1966, The Trading Post Grocery Store is your one stop shop.

Choose from our selection of the finest meats, fresh seasonal produce, extensive beer and wine inventory and a full-service deli. Don’t forget our fried chicken and world famous key lime pie! Our friendly staff is always on hand to help you find just what you’re looking for.

The Trading Post is always open, and proud to serve you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! – MM 81.5 Bayside