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.
The Avenues is the city’s newest indoor shopping mall and one of only two that are still functioning as a mall.
Built in 1990, the mall opened along Southside Boulevard with J.C. Penney, Maison Blanche, and Sears as its anchors. A year after opening, Dillard’s was added to the mall next to Sears, and shortly thereafter the Maison Blanche was acquired by, and rebranded as, Gayfer’s. It would rebrand once more in the late ‘90s, becoming Belk.
The mid-‘90s saw the addition of another mini-wing, this time to accommodate Parisian as a fifth anchor store.
In efforts to keep pace with the newly-built St. Johns Town Center, the mall underwent $10.5 million in renovations in 2005, adding a play area for kids as well as new paint and flooring.
When Parisian went out of business in 2006, its space was briefly used as a second location for Belk, housing its men’s clothing and home departments. The space was ultimately taken over by Forever 21.
In recent years, The Avenues has shown signs of following the same path to decline as many of its predecessors. National brands have begun moving out, replaced either by local businesses or empty storefronts. Original anchor tenant Sears closed and has yet to be replaced.
Nonetheless, it remains open and has yet to develop the negative reputation of its fellow enclosed center, Regency Square Mall.
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.