I don’t get many chances to travel by plane nowadays, so I’m thankful for people like Michael Lisicky, who have contributed a lot of great photos and information to Labelscar. This package of photos and history on the Palm Beach Mall in West Palm Beach, Florida, comes from Mr. Lisicky. I know I drove past this place in 2000 but I wasn’t able to stop (I had to catch a flight!) so I’m glad that some of the pieces have been put together–it seems it’s a fascinating case of a large, once-dominant mall losing its grip on the market in this South Florida city:

“When the Palm Beach Mall opened in 1967, it was billed as the largest enclosed mall in the Southeast. Located in West Palm Beach, FL, the mall helped serve a community who didn’t necessarily need the opulence of Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue shopping area. It opened amidst spectacular gardens and fountains and was anchored by the Miami-based Jordan Marsh, JCPenney and the number three of the three Miami stores, Richards. Palm Beach Mall thrived in the 1970s and beyond. So much so that the other Miami store, Burdines, left its downtown West Palm Beach location to join the Palm Beach Mall in 1980.

“But 1980 also meant more change to the mall. Richards, a unit of the troubled holding company City Stores, was forced to close all 8 Florida stores. This included not only the flagship in downtown Miami
but also the Palm Beach Mall location. Richards helped serve the more moderate end of the department store field in South Florida and therefore it found itself in less desirable shopping centers. However it was located in a couple of malls like Cutler Ridge and Palm Beach Mall where mall owners were threatening the company with eviction do to the lower quality of their merchandise. After Richards left, their anchor spot was quickly snatched up by Sears.

“The 1980s saw the infiltration of outside stores heading to Florida. Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Lord & Taylor joined Saks and Bonwit Teller to make the shopping environment more competitive. Burdines quickly defined itself as “The Florida Store” and solidified its place as the destination for loyal local and visiting shoppers. Jordan Marsh, which started Florida operations in 1956, was once the store for higher fashion. With newcomers heading into the state, the store lost focus and decided to downgrade in order to compete. It was a devastating decision for the company.

Lord & Taylor chose to come into the flourishing Palm Beach Mall during its massive invation into South Florida in the 1980s. Both Lord & Taylor and Jordan Marsh enjoyed high visibility from drivers on I-95. (Palm Beach Mall is actually the only mall visible from I-95 in all of South Florida.) But then things began to change. Jordan Marsh, floundering in bankruptcy, closed its stores in 1991. Lord & Taylor would end up retrenching years down the road eventually leaving Florida altogether. As the mall’s demographics changed the wonderful interior would be blandified over the years.

“In the late 90s one of the biggest changes to happen to Palm Beach Mall was the razing of the Jordan Marsh store in order for Dillard’s to try to make its stand in South Florida. Shut out by Burdines and sister stores, Dillard’s had limited choices on where to locate. This dramatically changed the center court. Though the high ceiling remains to this day, gone is the exotic drama of its former interior self. And with a vacant and visible Lord & Taylor building, the mall decided to raze the store and leave the site ready for future development, development that has never materialized.

“Burdines also suffered as the Macy influence gradually gained control. The store, even to this day, has a dramatic open feeling to its interior. This “Florida feeling” helped define to the public what
Burdines was all about. But in 2005 the store became a Macy’s. Up to the changeover, 2 of the 4 exterior entrances were sealed off. The parking garage leading into the upper floor of the store has even been closed off. Large portion of the store are walled off. Though the store has that great turquoise seashore feel, its merchandise no longer reflects the South Florida lifestyle. It has a true feeling of doom.

“Palm Beach Mall received a blow in 1999 when a young manager of the Chick-Fil-A store was murdered. Though it was deemed an inside job, few malls really can survive a high profile murder incident. (May I cite the Cloverleaf Mall in Richmond, VA?) More and more national merchants began to leave the mall in droves. The mall still is somewhat active but most stores seem to be on short term leases. Its current owner, Simon, seems to be in the mode to just fill the spaces, with anything. There is talk about the mall being ‘de-malled’. It’s fair to say its future is uncertain. There is too much competition in the immediate area to support this center. Time will tell.

“The pictures below were taken in late July, 2007. The interior store shots at the end are of the inside of the former Burdines, now Macy’s. The picture of the vacant lot next to the mall is where the Lord & Taylor was razed.”

The Burdine’s shots here are obviously not from 2007, they are 3 years older–from 2004. And the shot with the Jordan Marsh was from July of 1991; I know that it certainly takes me back, since Jordan Marsh’s New England stores (many of which are now being demolished, as they were abandoned by Macy’s) looked just like this. Michael also notes that the below Richards ad was from 1980, and was the last advertisement they ever ran in the Miami Herald. It also lists locations of their other stores at the time:

It’s about Spring break time, so we’re headed south to the original Spring break destination of Fort Lauderdale, and to a little mall just to the west in suburban Lauderhill.  Walking into Lauderhill Mall is like walking into a time vacuum and being sucked back 30 (or more?) years.  It is not only a wonderfully-preserved example of retail times gone by, but it is possibly the most reliced property we’ve featured on this site which is still open - and not dead.  At any rate, we feel that Lauderhill is an appropriate foray into the retail scene of south Florida, a rapidly changing and exponentially growing place with a rich and unique retail history.   

This amazing relic sits on 40 acres of property along State Road 7 just north of Sunrise Boulevard in the small village of Lauderhill, just west of the city of Fort Lauderdale.  Opened in 1966, it was billed as the first air-conditioned mall in the southeastern United States.  Since opening, Broward County and south Florida in general have changed dramatically.  For one, the population of Broward County was only 350,000 in 1966.  Today it is 1.8 million and growing rapidly.  In addition, with the massive population growth came larger, more modern malls and big box centers.  These have effectively outmoded Lauderhill Mall and it has far outlived its original purpose.  The only reason it still exists is because it was purchased decades ago by a privately held Canadian partnership which has done very little to the mall at all, leaving it looking almost exactly the same today as it did the day it opened.  They do keep the place clean, however.

As far as tenants, or general information about the mall in general, little information is available.  As the mall lacks a website, even current information is relatively difficult to find.  Upon visiting the mall in January 2007, we discovered it was tenanted with many local and national retailers, many of which cater to an urban, lower-income market.  Despite no longer having anchors, Lauderhill Mall has a low vacancy rate.

Clearly, the main event of this mall is its sheer existence in the face of obsolescence.  We’re talking stores with cedar shingles, an ancient directory which is possibly several decades old and even yellowing due to age, mirror-backed storefronts, and wooden-flanked conversation areas with planters staged throughout the middle of the mall walkway.  There is nothing modern about this mall, and it is possibly one of the best-preserved retail relics still open today. 

But this won’t be the case for very long. 

As the story commonly goes for outdated retail, massive changes are afoot for Lauderhill Mall.  Announced in September 2006, it appears the wave of ”new urbanism” will flood Lauderhill with new residential, office, and retail.  This would, of course, involve tearing down most, if not all, of the 650,000 square-foot mall and replacing it with over 1 million feet of new space.  The demolition could start later this year, and is considered a vital linchpin in the revitalization of the Route 7 corridor between Miami and Broward County and points northward.  This redevelopment is all the result of the acceptance of an unsolicited offer to the Canadian partnership from a south Florida firm.     

So say goodbye to Lauderhill Mall, at least the Lauderhill Mall which has existed for more than four decades.  It’ll be gone after this year, but not before being documented here for perhaps the very first time.  That’s what we’re here for, anyway.  The pictures here were taken in January 2007 (though I probably could have told you 1977 rather convincingly).  If you know anything about the mall, specifically about the history and the anchors here, leave some comments and let us know. 

Opened in 2002 near a former Belz Factory Outlets site, Festival Bay Mall is the Orlando area’s newest enclosed mall; however, it is anything but typical.  For one, its location almost certainly dictates Festival Bay Mall’s positioning.  Leased and managed by General Growth and owned by Belz, Festival Bay Mall is situated on the north end of International Drive (locally known as I Drive), a tourist-oriented strip loosely connecting Universal, Sea World, Orlando Convention Center and Disney areas.  Most of the businesses along I Drive attempt to grab the dollars of tourists who came to see Orlando’s theme park offerings, and consist of destination stores, outlet malls, and even the world’s largest McDonald’s.  In addition, two larger, more traditional malls with traditional anchors exist within 10 minutes of Festival Bay Mall: the massive Florida Mall and the very upscale Mall at Millenia, which opened in 2001. 

As such, the positioning of Festival Bay Mall is themed with the tourist in mind.  The larger anchor stores are destination specialty stores such as Ron Jon Surf Shop (with Surfpark opening in Summer 2007), Vans Skatepark, Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear, Putting Edge miniature golf, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Sheplers Western Wear, and a Cinemark 20-screen movie theater.  There’s even a small outpost of Hawaii-based Hilo Hattie, which bills itself as the store of Hawaii.  And although the anchors are non-traditional, the in-line offerings are much more typical of a suburban enclosed mall, with retailers like BCBG MaxAzria, Pac Sun, Icing by Claire’s, and Journeys.  The food offerings at the mall are also typical, with Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Villa Pizza, A&W/Long John Silver’s, and Fuddruckers. 

The layout of Festival Bay Mall is also unique.  The main entrance is off I Drive, and features a man-made lake which extends from the outside into the building’s center court, which is at the main entrance.  This is the first mall I have seen with a body of water which exists both outside and inside.  The center court also feels very grand and impressive with the lake as the centerpiece.  The floorplan of the mall itself is also atypical.  A hallway runs around the perimeter of the center in a circle, in addition to hallways which begin at center court and cut directly through the mall and reconnect at the circle.  Take a look at the directory picture for a reference.  It was definitely kind of fun getting lost here.

Another atypical feature of Festival Bay Mall is the vacancy rate.  For being less than five years old, the mall is alarmingly empty.  So much so, in fact, that there have been numerous mentions of this on both the mall’s deadmalls.com article and its Wikipedia entry.  Most brand new malls open with almost no vacancy as retailers clamor years in advance to put their stores in the new mall.  I would venture to blame the mall’s location and tourist-positioning for its relative inability to find stores.  Until now, that is.  It appears that Festival Bay Mall is finally on the upswing.  Many new stores are opening or are planned to open in 2007, which will hopefully fill the place up.  That said, at least one of the radials from center court is almost completely vacant. 

The pictures featured here were taken in January 2007.  Feel free to leave your own comments about Festival Bay Mall and how it’s progressing. 

This one was truly amazing.  Located along Okeechobee Road in the west part of Fort Pierce, Florida, Orange Blossom Mall sat for decades.  It seems to have died a slow, drawn out retail death, leaving behind a massive hulking structure which was open to walk but not really to shop.  When I visited in May 2001 only a few stores were operating.  The mall was, at one point, anchored by Sears and a Belk-Lindsay, so says the mall’s directory.  Both were shuttered by the time I visited the mall in 2001.  Also unique about the directory is the notation of ‘future dept. stores’ and ‘future expansion’, spelling out a woeful tale of unrealized glitz and glamour.  Check it out below.

The mall’s interior corridor was shaped in a ‘9′ figuration, and was listed at 423,000 square feet in 1998.  Upon my visit in 2001, Sears was closed and the east end of the mall was inhabited by a Cincinatti-based call center, Convergys Inc.  In 2005, Convergys Inc. closed their location at the Orange Blossom Mall, leaving it even more dead if that’s possible.

As you can see in the pictures below, the Orange Blossom Mall’s condition was horrendous.  The number of retail stores operating is listed beside the directory.  I count 10 of them and no anchors.  There was also a gym called Barbell’s (I think?  It was over five years ago) operating at the west mall entrance closest to the former Sears.  Of note, check out the Labelscar for The Gap!  For all who don’t know or remember, this was their ancient logo before the ‘Gap Classic’ stores emerged in the early 1990s.  Does anyone have any information about any of these older Gap stores still in operation?  I remember shopping at one as a small child in the Machesney Park Mall near Rockford, Illinois, sometime in the late 1980s.  Also, check out all the other dated storefronts.  Maybe some of you will clue us in as to what they were.

A bit more about the known history of the mall.  From what I could dig up, the mall was sold in 1998 by Met Life (who also owned many beleagured malls at the time, including Euclid Square Mall in Ohio and Rhode Island Mall) to a company called Zamias Services, who managed it for a while and then divested it.  It currently operates as Orange Blossom Office Center, but I’m not sure if any conversions or demolitions of the structure have taken place yet.  Does anyone know if most of the mall is still standing or able to be walked?  I returned to visit a year later in June 2002 and the mall was in virtually the same condition, but I have not been back since. 

Also, we’re wondering about the mall prior to present times.  I can conjecture that people abandoned the mall to shop at the nicer Treasure Coast Square about 20 miles away in Jensen Beach or the massive retail strip along Route 1 up and down the Treasure Coast.  In addition, Fort Pierce is itself a marginally depressed city, economically, and that probably also contributed to the mall’s demise.  Demographically, the city has a very diverse socioeconomic makeup much different from that of the surrounding metro area.  The metro area includes St. Lucie, Florida, which was named in 2006 as the fastest growing city above 100,000 in the country.  It shot up from 88,000 in the 2000 census to an estimated 150,000 as of early 2006.  Wow!  We’d like to hear from some people who know more about the area than we do.  When did the mall die?  Was it ever successful?  As always your comments are appreciated.