I haven't seen the place in many years, but I've been by their building in Rockledge a million times when I was growing up over there back in the sixties and seventies.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120417/COLUMNISTS0406/304170010/Britt-Kennerly-Harvey-s-Groves-hangs-up-another-citrus-season

Britt Kennerly: Harvey's Groves hangs up another citrus season

Man behind Brevard business happy with iconic status, faithful fans
10:52 PM, Apr. 16, 2012


Harvey's Groves, on U.S.#1, in south Rockledge, will be closing for the season in late April, to return in
October. Photo shows marie Wheeler, with customer service in the gift shop, as customers Amberley
Zammiello, of Rockledge, and Todd Munger, of Michigan, stop by to purchase some orange juice.
Tim Shortt, Florida Today

ROCKLEDGE — Come Friday, the smiling, orange-head cutout man on top of the Harvey’s Groves building will be one of the few faces on duty for a few months.

Until October, Orange Guy will keep company with a core group of Harvey’s employees, including Jim Harvey, co-owner of the popular citrus business that’s been part of the Rockledge scenery since 1926.

This year, drought is forcing an earlier-than-usual spring closing, says the 51-year-old Harvey. He runs the retail stores, packinghouse, shipping and online operations with his brother, Larry, who also oversees 350 acres of orange groves on Merritt Island.

But when fall hits, look for a “Welcome Back” sign in the parking lot. Look for crowds, too.

“We have a lot of very dedicated customers and employees who come back year after year,” says Harvey. “We’re very lucky.”

Harvey is one of those guys who knows his business and his community like, well, nobody’s business. It’s a big part of his life and livelihood. He was born at Wuesthoff Hospital. Went to elementary and high school in Rockledge. Hasn’t really lived anywhere else, with the exception of his college days at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

He’s happy with that. Glad to be part of a company that employs locals — eight or so in the summer, dozens other times and more than 100 during the Christmas season — and provides a product he’ll stake his name on.

It started, according to the family’s account, with an old hand-squeezer, some oranges and grapefruits and the ingenuity of Jim Harvey’s great uncle and great aunt, Roy and Blanche Harvey. Their first roadside stand opened just across the road from the current location on U.S. 1 in 1926. Good business drew Jim and Larry Harvey’s father, George — Roy Harvey’s nephew — and his wife, Jannetta, into the operation.

In the early 1940s, the store on the east side of U.S. 1 opened and later, retail stores in Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island were added.

Did everyone at school know he was part of “that” Harvey bunch when he was growing up?

“Everyone knew about the little orange man,” says Harvey, laughing. “I’ve always been very proud of what my family has accomplished here. ... I’ve seen a lot of changes in the area and the business, but some things have stayed the same.”

Seven-year-old Harry, a golden retriever owned by Harvey and his wife, Trish, ambles by the office door. It’s a comfortable and busy place, even as the season winds down.

Harvey, who might eat as many as four oranges a day, offers a glass of just-made, 100 percent Valencia orange juice, the only type of oranges from which Harvey’s makes juice without blending in other varieties. It’s super-chilled, not pasteurized. It’s sweet, tart and incredible when it’s this fresh.

Sometimes, it takes four different varieties to make some juice “pop,” as Harvey puts it. Not Valencia.

Harvey’s Groves ships to Canada and sends a lot of gifts and fruit out West, too. George Harvey helped found and lead the Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association, and Harvey’s is one of the few family-owned groves left in the state.

But the Internet, Harvey muses, has also given rise to a lot of fruit sellers who “may or may not be” selling worthy products, and there’s “a lot of competition for that Christmas gift, that chocolate, that fruit.”

“It’s a little harder than it used to be — more challenging with all these others out there,” he says. “But we’re doing OK.”

Outside, cars stream into the parking lot. Those exiting the store carry jugs of juice they’ll freeze or fruit they’ll be eating and sharing during the next few days.

Charles Coe of Suntree pushes a cart full of oranges he and his wife plan to take with them on vacation.

“I’ve been coming here for about 10 years,” he says. “It’s fresh, it’s good, and it’s local.”

The orange-head cutout man on top of the building is smiling. The guy inside probably is smiling, too.