Few cities in America were impacted by the rise of suburban shopping malls as significantly as Jacksonville.
The city had already built up a reputation as a shopping mecca through its decades of thriving downtown department stores. It therefore came as no surprise that, when shopping malls boomed in popularity in the 1960s, mall developers set their sights on the Bold City.
Five enclosed shopping malls debuted in Jacksonville during the ‘60s, and another three were built in the decades since. Only two are still in operation as malls, with the rest having been either redeveloped for a new purpose or demolished.
We’ve put together a brief history of each of Jacksonville’s eight indoor shopping malls, as a reminder of how the city was once among the country’s finest shopping destinations.
Normandy Mall was constructed in the late 1960s around a standalone Montgomery Ward store, on property that fronted Normandy Boulevard and was previously home to Loew’s Normandy Outdoor Theatre. The development was led by shopping mall tycoon Ed DeBartolo’s company.
Ward’s became one of three original anchor tenants for the new 371,000-square-foot mall, joined by bargain retailers Woolco and Roses. Within five years of opening, Roses left and was quickly replaced by five-and-dime chain Murphy’s Mart. Its other tenants were a collection of national chains that differed just enough from the offerings at nearby Roosevelt Mall.
Normandy Mall maintained a reasonable amount of success until the beginning of the ‘90s. By that point, Montgomery Ward and Woolco had left the mall; Woolco’s space was filled with a new Sam’s Club, while the old Ward’s building remained empty. The mall’s interior tenants began dropping off quickly, and when Sam’s Club closed just a few years later, it brought about the end of the property’s days as a shopping mall.
The old Ward’s building was later purchased by Sleiman Enterprises and turned into a shopping strip. The rest of the old mall became part of an adaptive reuse project led by Potter’s House Christian Fellowship; it now houses the church as well as a small community center for its attendees.
The Avenues is not going anywhere. That mall is in a better side of town and is more convenient to all areas of Jacksonville & even nearby St. John’s County to the south. Although stores began leaving in recent years, the mall is generally very healthy. The departure of Sears in late 2019 didn’t really affect the mall. Another plus is that the store occupied 120,000 square feet and was leased by Sears rather than being a 200,000 square foot store owned by Seritage Growth Properties. I will say that many of those stores, along with the ones at Regency & Orange Park, are going to stay vacant longer than the Avenues location. Simon is very good at filling vacant boxes so they won’t have a problem finding a new vibrant tenant for the space. The difference between the Avenues vs. Orange Park & Regency is that the area of Arlington isn’t very well ran considering how badly rundown Regency is, & I’m not saying that Orange Park will go under, but that mall is more for the middle class, & whereas with the Avenues, the surrounding areas are more affluent. Don’t be negative at all, I do think the Avenues will better compete with St. John’s Town Center by getting another makeover and having a Von Maur to replace the former Sears in 2022. In general, Jax’s Southside is very innovative. One thing that the Avenues & St. John’s Town Center have in common is that they’re both owned by Simon, which also owns other high quality malls. Either way, right now is a very tough time for all retailers & shopping centers, so there’s a chance that things will get better as the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic slows down.