Orange Blossom Mall; Fort Pierce, Florida
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.
Jack Shell
August 12th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Fort Pierce’s Orange Blossom Mall opened in 1984. It’s original anchors were Sears and Belk-Lindsay. It was a very nice, very clean and modern mall for it’s time, not to mention, very successful throughout the 80’s and early 90’s. I moved away from the area around that time. I was shocked to learn over time that it had died like it had. It was always full of people, they advertised regularly on local media, and seemed to be a thriving shopping center. It pulled in customers from the North in Vero Beach (Indian River Mall) and South from Jensen Beach and Stuart (Treasure Coast Square), but when those cities got their own larger, more upscale malls, they really took their toll on Orange Blossom Mall. Breaks my heart to see those pictures.
I still remember the jingle…”The one for all, Orange Blossom Mall”.
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Steven Swain
August 12th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
It just looks like everybody got up and left one day. The practically new GNC sitting empty is eerie.
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Max
August 13th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
In my opinion, this mall is in the worst shape out of any dying (but not yet dead) mall that has been profiled on this site to date.
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Prangeway
August 14th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Yeah, Max, this mall is definitely up there in that category. Surprisingly, we’ve been to a few malls like this: a few stores (or less) open, yet the mall is still open to the public for whatever reason. It’s quite spooky, but also kind of neat.
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Petunia
August 16th, 2006 at 1:26 am
This mall reminds me of one that was built in the early 80s in suburban New Orleans where I grew up. It was called Belle Promenade and was wildly successful until the original West Bank mall, Oakwood, was remodeled and attracted better stores I spent a lot of time at this mall being a teenager in the 80s. Going to the mall was a major activity for me and my friends and seemingly everyone else as well. Belle Promenade was eventually torn down and partially replaced by a Super Wal-Mart and a Home Depot. I found this webpage that discusses the mall:
http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/belle_promenade.html
Oakwood Mall is the mall you may have heard about that was looted and set on fire in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It was a beautiful place, easily one of the prettiest malls I’ve ever visited.
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John
November 18th, 2006 at 4:05 am
I worked in the Orange Blossom Mall in Ft Pierce, Fl in 1985 in a mens clothing store called H.I.S. 21 yrs later i find myself working for the elections office as a Systems Admin in IT in the same building. http://www.slcelections.com. I remember it as a thriving mall in the 80,s, driving from Okeechobee, FL. That was a big deal in a small cow town. This week it was announced tha the mall was to be bought and demolished. Just a few weeks ago i asked Joe, the maint. man to let me see the old food court , just to bring back memories. After two hurricanes, most of the ceiling tiles are gone or moldy. The fountains are void of water for insurance purposes and the musak still sounds bad coming from old speakers. Sometimes i exit the rear office door and walk a bit. I often stop and look at the long gone GAP scare and others and remember fun times back when i thought i would live forever.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/editorials/article/0,2821,TCP_24460_5149192,00.html
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Allan
November 29th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Its sad to hear the trend of “de-malling” malls is continuing, but I’m not too surprised either to see that it’s happening(in favor of ‘lifestyle’ centers, which not surprisingly, I’m not fond of). It’s probably one of those trends that’ll occur for another 10-15 years(a la the trend to build enclosed malls from the 1970s on, and lasted until the mid or late-’90s).
That “the Gap” sign is probably my favorite thing mentioned about Orange Blossom Mall, since I remember 2 old Gap stores that were built on the far north side of Chicago back when the Gap used to use that full name, instead of only calling themselves ‘Gap’(as they do now). One of them was converted to a Chinese buffet place, after Gap moved that location to Lincolnwood Town Center(an enclosed mall), and another was since turned into a new business of some sort(it escapes me at the moment what the 2nd Gap store I’m thinking of is now).
All right, I’ll really stop now will all my random comments, at least for the rest of today
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John S
March 9th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I spent a lot of time in this mall in the 80s and 90s, I especially liked the food court, it is all very sad. It now houses county offices. There were similar “small” malls up and down the treasure coast, Stuart, Vero, etc, and they all seemed to die at about the same time, odd. I much preferred these smaller, cozier malls to the big glam malls in fashion now.
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matt
April 8th, 2007 at 5:26 am
This mall looks a lot like a miniature of melbourne Square. I think this must have been built by debartolo. Melbourne also had a proposed Ruby tuesday, but it never happened.
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Ian
June 1st, 2007 at 1:48 am
Man CREEPY!
Seeing this mall again in this condition sends a chill down my spine!
I pretty much LIVED there when I was in High School, it was the only mall around the area in the 80’s.
In its heyday the Orange Blossom Mall had Two Record Stores, Diamond Jims Video Arcade, tons of cool places to buy clothes, Schumacher Music (where I bought my first guitar), a wallgreens that was the only place around that would sell cigerettes to minors without an ID, and pretty much everything a juvenile delinquent growing up in the 80’s in st. lucie county could ask for, and Man it was BOOMIN’ back then.
I can almost see the Ghosts!
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Colin
June 6th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I lived in Ft Pierce from 1984-1986 and I remember this mall opening up. From what I remembered of my family talking, it was a doomed project from the start with delayed construction and other hassles.
I fondly remember playing the LaserDisc based game “Dragon’s Lair” at Diamond Jim’s video arcade. I still have a purple velvet bag half-filled with tokens from Diamond Jim’s in my old “school memories” box in the basement..
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Jen
July 6th, 2007 at 2:19 am
I know this is like a year old, but I run a blog on Euclid Square Mall. Now it’s just the Dillard’s Clearance center that’s operational. I left the link to the blog so you can check it out, if you wish.
Have a good day!
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Mark
July 18th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I am a 23 year old man but I remember back in 2nd and 3rd grade that my school would do Christmas plays there every year and we were shocked that it closed. About a year ago, however, there was word around this county and even in the newspaper that this mall would be revived after a lonh hiatus. I hope it does return- the citizens of Fort Pierce and even Saint Lucie County are deserving agin.
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Linda
August 14th, 2007 at 12:52 am
I drive by this place all the time. But, its not a mall, and there’s no way its ever going to be a mall ever again. Its the school board’s offices.
There’s no real other area for the school board to be, seeing as its old building was taken over by the deliquent’s school. “Delaware”
If it does, that would be amazing. I drive past it to go to wal-mart often. And the nearest (decent) mall is 45 minutes away from where I live. Where as Orange Blossom is only about 8. I wish it would open back up, but I doubt it would. I mean, I used to go see Santa all the time there with my sisters. And I even remember when they had Rudolf’s head in the wall and it would talk to you when you walked by.. that was so cool. :] But, alas, Fort Pierce is going through a pretty bad break-up and it doesn’t want to come out of its room to see the light of day for anything. Not for a while, unless someone really special comes along to see its potential. And who knows, it may die before then.
-Linda
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Bart
October 27th, 2007 at 9:11 am
I live in Ft.Pierce and have been since 1979. I’m 31 now I remember when they built the O.B Mall.my mother who worked for a traveling Western wear shop called’Buck N Bum’ worked there when they rented a store during the X mas holidays.The last time i was at the O.B Mall i was assualted by gang member punks who the lack of ecurity let run rampant and thus was part of the Malls downfall.It was once a great mall that i enhoyed playing vid games at ‘Diamond Jim’s and bought lots of clothes and toys there over the years.I even bought my first tap there when i stated getting into Heavy Metal back in 1992′.Pantera’s Vulger Display Of Power’ it was.It sad that the Mall it will be no more soon.
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Jeremiah
November 8th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Wow!
This brought back memoires, I lived in Fort Pierce from ‘86-2002 and used to have my film developed at Foto Fun.
….seems like only yesterday I was at the food court talking to Rudolph or skating on the dinky “ice” rink they used to set up for the Holidays!
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Brad
December 7th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I lived in Jensen Beach in ‘84 drove up there to shop & play Dig-Dug. That mall was booming back then. I can’t figure out why it went under. Fort Pierce & the surrounding cities got bigger. I miss 1984….it was so much nicer in Martin County.
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mozley
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:05 pm
does anyone know if this mall is still open…that is, can you still go inside, are there any stores remaining? also, i am driving down the east coast of florida and would like to see other dead malls: anybody know some others?
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JEFF
December 26th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I opened a sub shop that was called ALL AMERICAN HERO when the mall first opened. I didnt see sunlight for 8 months ,it was so buzy.
IT was the place to be at the time but as other malls open, like the one in
Stuart. It started to die a slow death. IT IS A SHAME .
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Faith
December 26th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I was there at the very beginning of that mall and believe me it was jammin for the first 5 years!!! But as Walmart opened down the street it slowly died out. Belk Lidnsey, Sears, Wicks and Sticks, Zales, Gordons jewlers, All Americn Hero, Hot dog N More, Corn Dog 7, Chick Filet, NY Pizza, so many memories and so much fun!! All the managers of the food court were friends and would sit around and talk after hours. We were all young and starting out! As it died down everything changed the clientel got lousier and the stores shut down. The mall was designed to have many more stores added and a 9 screen theater was to be built but Walmart coming changed everything. Sad to see it all go away. A life time ago but the memories are forever!
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rodney
January 8th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I”m going to that mall today and see if it open today.
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Michael
January 11th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I also grew up in Ft. Pierce, and have many memories of Orange Blossom Mall. I was 14 when it opened and spent many a friday night there shopping with my family. My high school (John Carroll) was not far away. As seniors we were able to leave campus for lunch and always went to the food court to eat. My first job was at Bresler’s Ice Cream which was owned by friends of my parents. From there it was on to work at B. Dalton Bookseller whose store can be seen in one of the photos near the GAP. My last day working at the mall was Christmas Eve 1990 after which I left town to go to college. ( A few years earlier the mall actually had live deer in a pen near the fountains at the center court for Christmas!) Ft. Pierce has changed so much since then. My family, like many other middle class families that shopped there, moved south to Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West which was much closer to the Treasure Coast Mall. I moved back to the area in 1997 and Indian River Mall had opened too, further sending the mall into decline. At that point the Gap was still open and I believe hung on until ‘99 or ‘00. I occasionally drive by and it is a sad sight to see and brings back so many memories. Ft. Pierce is definately a Walmart town now, long over shadowed by the wealthy counties of Indian River and Martin to either side.
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Aaron
January 15th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Fort Pierce was ALWAYS a ‘Wal-Mart town.’
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Aaron
January 16th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
“Allan said,
on November 29th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Its sad to hear the trend of “de-malling” malls is continuing, but I’m not too surprised either to see that it’s happening(in favor of ‘lifestyle’ centers, which not surprisingly, I’m not fond of). It’s probably one of those trends that’ll occur for another 10-15 years(a la the trend to build enclosed malls from the 1970s on, and lasted until the mid or late-’90s).”
Actually, covered malls are basically an experiement in commerce. Since Ur, people have been congregating in outdoor, walking shopping districts, initially organically created by the ebb and flow of traffic in the cities, and later as planned Main Streets, downtowns and Grand ‘Champs.’
Mall culture (and I grew up basically in one: Dadeland Mall in Miami,) is an experiement in shopping. Up until very recently, one couldn’t drive to a place specifically designed to shop at. People built buildings and placed shops on the ground floor or nearby to where the people were.
Lifestyle centers are kind of a bridge between naturally occuring streets of shops (like M Street in Georgetown, or Lincoln Road in Miami Beach,) and malls. Most of them, as of yet, aren’t full-fledged urban centers, but are outdoor malls in Main Street drag.
However, a lifestyle center has much more of an opportunity to become an actual Main Street down the line…much more so than a mall does. So…while lifestyle centers may be a current trend, they actually lead from A (lifestyle center) to B (lifestyle center with surrounding urbanity) to C (actual center of ‘town.’) Hopefully, this will lead to less disposing of the site when the original purpose has run its course (like so many dead malls.)
This is why I support the lifestyle center ‘trend’ in retail. And I love the mall: I really do…but it’s interesting to note that its the places that didn’t abandon their traditional main street shopping experience, from Georgetown to Fifth Avenue to Williamsburg and beyond, that are desired places, have high property values, and create a connection with the city as a whole, rather than a separation and an isolation.
Dadeland is a great case in point in this regard, as they (a successful, non-dead mall dating back to the 1960s,) is in the middle of a multi-year development plan to break up the mall and create a ‘downtown’ for that area of Miami. Mizner Park, a redevelopment of the very dead Boca Mall, is another example of how the ‘lifestyle center’ provides an experience the hermetically sealed environment of the mall can’t hope to approach, and that is of connection: with the environment, with other people and with life, in general.
That’s my 15 cents, anyway.
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Allan
January 17th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Interesting post, Aaron, as I agree and disagree with various points you made in that post. I’m a little surprised you dug that far back to a comment I made in 2006, but where do I begin to reply:
>> However, a lifestyle center has much more of an opportunity to become an actual Main Street down the line…much more so than a mall does. So…while lifestyle centers may be a current trend, they actually lead from A (lifestyle center) to B (lifestyle center with surrounding urbanity) to C (actual center of ‘town.’) Hopefully, this will lead to less disposing of the site when the original purpose has run its course (like so many dead malls.) >>
You are absolutely right that a lot of malls do have the problem of running the course of later becoming dead malls, and in turn, become wasteful or ‘disposable’, especially if lower density development takes the place of a dead mall(i.e. a lifestyle center, as I’ve witnessed this occurring to several dead malls I used to patronize, such as College Hills Mall in Normal, IL, and Brickyard Mall in Chicago, IL). However, OTOH, I’ve heard of success stories too of enclosed malls improving over time, and even adapting forms of increased density development or ‘urbanism’, such as the owners of Tyson’s Corner Center Mall in Virginia building condos and office towers that are so close to the enclosed mall portion, that in essence these new portions are all but connected to the mall. Heck, even the rapid transit train system in DC, Metro, is planning to build an extension out to Tyson’s, which should speak volumes for the example I’m citing.
(link to a site on the Tyson development: http://www.tysonsfuture.com/ )
I dunno about you, but coming from briefly shopping at the lifestyle center that replaced Brickyard Mall(of Chicago) earlier today, there’s no doubt in my mind that the former Brickyard Mall was a much denser development, and was many times better than the lifestyle center that was built in its place. Not to mention, it’s unappealing as heck having to drive from store to store, rather than having the much more pleasurable experience of parking your car in one place, and shopping in an environment that you know won’t be too cold or too warm.
>
This is a point where I’ll both agree and disagree with. Wholeheartedly agree with your point about enclosed malls being an ‘experiment’ within the evolving preferences of developers and shoppers of the types of shopping centers built over the years. However, this process has been occurring, EVEN before the very first enclosed mall in America opened in 1956, Southdale Center in Edina, MN. Especially if you look back at earlier decades, when shopping centers such as Country Club Plaza in Kansas City(built 1923), and Market Square in Lake Forest, IL(built 1916, and probably most famous for being the site of one of the first Marshall Field’s stores outside of downtown Chicago) were planned developments that were way closer to traditional downtowns, or ‘Main Streets’ that you speak of, than the current trend of building lifestyle centers. Now the part where I so greatly disagree…..lifestyle centers are such a joke, if you even think they’re anywhere like ‘Main Street’. They’re just as manufactured of a shopping experience, if I will say, as any enclosed mall that has ever been built in this country, or anywhere else worldwide.
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This is a point where you totally lost me on. Can you elaborate more on what you mean by lifestyle centers being a bridge between traditional neighborhood shopping districts, and enclosed malls?
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Disagree, especially since many early open-air shopping centers that slightly predated the trend of enclosed malls were when the trend of building places designed for shopping really started to take root in American society. Heck, you could probably technically argue that Market Square in Lake Forest, IL, and Country Club Plaza in Kansas City were among the very first drafts of what later evolved into the trend of open-air shopping centers(i.e. Old Orchard Center in Skokie, IL), and shortly after, enclosed malls.
>
Could you elaborate more about Dadeland Mall’s development that you mentioned into it? I’d be curious to know if it’s like the vision that the owners of Tyson’s Corner Center are currently working to transform their mall into. Anyway, take care, and I greatly enjoyed reading your post.
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Aaron
January 17th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Allan:
RE: Lifestyle Centers as just as manufactured as malls.
- That is undeniably true. Developers are merely looking for the way to all of our hard earned and rapidly devaluing dollars. At present, and for the foreseeable future, that’s going to be the ‘lifestyle center.’ Having said that, a well-built lifestyle center has the bones to become an actual center. Mind you, I’m not talking about ’strip malls in Main Street’ drag here, but rather, buildings that can eventually integrate into the community as a whole. Many such lifestyle centers have done that. In Coral Springs, FL, for example, they redeveloped a failed strip into ‘The Walk,’ which has become the catalyst for their next project ‘Downtown Coral Springs.’
- This is what I mean by ‘lifestyle centers’ being the bridge between the mall and the traditioal shopping district. The mall faces away from the environment, represents a remove from the surroundings. The lifestyle center, while still a manufactured experience, at least is integrated into the environment. They offer a canvas to paint future growth on, whereas the traditional enclosed mall doesn’t.
RE: Tysons Corner.
- I live in DC now, and I’m well aware of Tysons (in fact, I spent Black Friday there in retail bliss.) Tysons future project is very similar to Dadeland’s, but both enclosed malls (and in Tysons’ case: enclosed mall districts,) represent successful, fortress malls: the pinnacle of enclosed mall building and expansion. (http://www.cuesfau.org/studentpapers/Documents/Kendall%20Report.pdf)
There’s nothing to say that a successful mall district can’t become a ‘downtown,’ and still retain the mall component. But, in my opinion, the mall has to already be a regional powerhouse success, such as Dadeland for Miami’s Kendall and Tysons Corner and Galleria for the Capital Region.
The issue with most other enclosed malls is not one of this massive level of success, however, and many of them will have to be reinvented or slip into deadness. However, unlike malls, which face inward and are, in general, removed from the surrounding community by parking lots and berms and those big, ridiculous circular pathways, lifestyle centers at least represent a ’start’ with buildings that can see repurpose, parking that can be garaged and made dense, etc. America’s rediscovery of their abandoned downtowns is no accident, and developers have seen that it’s surprisingly easy to refurbish the existing stock and get foot traffic. Georgetown is essentially one big ‘organic’ mall, with most of the shops and stores of Tysons, in a much better setting.
My hope for Tysons is that, once the Metro connects, it will become much like Pentagon City or Bethesda: malls-to-center of town. The Metro makes the Pentagon City Mall my fave in the region.
RE: Building lifestyle centers in the middle of nowhere.
This annoys me as well, but I suppose it’s better than nothing. My parents live in a very removed suburb of Fort Lauderdale, and they have their own ‘lifestyle center,’ which is merely an outdoor shopping center in ‘rich-bitch-Boca’ drag. Still, it’s much more pleasant to look at than the vacant, blank wall of a Wal-Mart.
RE: Outdoor shopping centers.
-These are actually less of an experiement that the hermetically sealed mall. Concur and agree.
RE: My earlier life as a mall rat.
- I was totally raised in the suburbs of Miami. Basically, my entire childhood was spent on my bike, or in a car…on the way to a mall of some sort. I am not exactly anti-mall, exactly. I remember Just Jeans and Ton Sur Ton shirts and arcades and etc. Periodically, I still shop in malls, including a somewhat dead one (Prince Georges Plaza has the Metro AND a Target.) But you don’t really know what you are missing if you never had it in the first place. In my case, I’m tallking about the simple act of walking to stores, restaurants, etc.
I think, for a lot of people, the lifestyle center represents a little bit of that (I got very excited over Mizner Park or CocoWalk as a teen, without being able to articulate why.) For most people, it’s too much of a leap currently to just move back into the cities our grandparents left behind (wait until the Indians build that $3000 car and gas worldwide hits $4 a gallon, however.) But there’s an real appeal to the ‘Main Street’ experience, even if it’s as fake as Disney…and even if you have to drive to it. My parent’s ‘lifestyle center’ is the perfect case in point: it’s hopping all day with activity…even if it is merely a mall in drag.
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Jonah Norason
January 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hey, I just wrote an insightful post on the matter at hand, about lifestyle centers, and now my post is gone. What happened?
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Aaron
January 18th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
here are some pictures of the idea of ‘Downtown Kendall’
http://www.doverkohl.com/project.aspx?id=14&type=0&image=1
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phillip kaufman
February 11th, 2008 at 2:58 am
I managed the Sound Shop in OBM in 1988. At that point Treasure Coast had been taking business and OBM had two or three empty storefronts. Looking at the photos brought back memories of that time in my life. Then to see the comment about Joe, the maintenance man, I can hardly believe he was still there. Way to go Joe!! Glad to know you’re still around.
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Coral Vega
March 6th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I used to go to this mall all the time when I was a kid. It’s so strange now to see it converted into government offices and Indian River Community Colleges beautician school. I went there recently to fill out an application for a passport. It was eerie, really, the fact that I could still go there and name where most of the stores once were. There was a pet store that still has the big glass windows in the front where you could look in at the sad-looking puppies. A unique, blue-tiled wall marks where Diamond Jim’s, a video arcade, used to be. The front entrance of Diamond Jim’s sported a pair of televison on each side of the door, showing all the latest video games playing onscreen. The televisions are actually still there, crooked, dark, but intact. A smiling multi-colored clown on the wall brought back happy childhood memories of Kay-Bee Toys, of playing with flipping puppies and honking pigs, and those little penguins that would climb the elctronic stairs, roll down the winding slide, then climb up again in cycle. I even cheated a bit, stepping over the construction ropes to go visit a restaraunt I remember going with my late grandparents at least once a week: Picadilly. A peek inside the dead cafeteria shows a dark, dusty mess, with old signs leaning against the walls and the remains of a dining room with no chairs or tables. I remember the beautiful fountains that decorated the center of the mall walkways, where kids like me enjoyed throwing coins and making stupid wishes for new toys, video games, and a million dollars. The fountains are in pathetic condition now, drained and nothing more than an eyesore. I used to love this place when I was a kid. Now it’s like visiting an abandoned dream of childhood. Truly creepy.
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Graham Brunk
May 17th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
This mall is also the origin of and Urban Legend that arose in the mid 1980s about kids being kidnapped in the mall and the mall goes into a silent lockdown where all the security people are looking for the missing child. They usually find the child in the bathroom in the process of getting its head shaved or clothes changed. This caused quite a stir for people that shopped there in April 1984, so much that the Miami Herald published a story discrediting this story as factual. The legend has spread a lot, and now you hear about it happening in different places like Sams Club and stuff like that all over the country. But it originated at the Orange Blossom Mall in 1984!
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Misty
July 1st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Wow….I moved out of Fort Pierce in 2003, and I remember the Mall was dead then. I actually worked for Convergys for over a year, and remember always finding a parking place
But seriously, when I was a kid, what I remember most was the arcade we used to go in, and then we would go to the food court….I also remember the Ice Rink (if u can call it that, LOL)
Seemed like it died a slow and painful death.
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michele
July 7th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I also remember when this mall opened up for the first time, as I came to PSL in 1980 from WPB (grew up around the Palm Beach Lakes Mall in WPB). I used to go there when I was in high school and graduated in 1984. We used to get our (45’s) records there and candy, go girl shopping and see my best friend at one the clothing stores there, along with the video games of course. My high school sweetheart and I bought our engagement rings at Dubose Jewelers (1985) and after I had my first child (1986) I used to have her pictures taken at Sears all the time. Having her visit Santa and later seeing the reindeers there bring back memories as well. Even taking the family to Picadilly’s for lunch. I remember when Belk Lindsey was there and they sold candy for $25.00 a pd. I couldn’t get over that! This mall used to be booming! When the Treasure Coast Mall came around, that’s when all the malls in the area went under (Stuart, Ft Pierce and Vero Mall). I never cared for the TC Mall and still don’t to this day. The new malls can NEVER compare to those that we grew up with!
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BOB NEARENBERG
August 14th, 2008 at 5:45 am
I lived right behind the mall in the Sabal Chase apartment complex from 2001 to 2005. It was alaready closed by the time I got there. Had no idea it looked that good inside until I saw the pictures here. WalMart is practically next door now and seems to be doing well so there is probably no chance it will ever open again. Too bad, since it could have helped Fort Pierce econoomically.
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Bob Wilson
August 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Living in the area when the mall openned, I remember the mall being very busy for several years. Gang problems in the parking lot were said to have been the reason for the downfall as well as the new Jensen Beach Mall up the road. THe final nail was the Indian River Mall in Vero. Sears and Belk held out along with a few small stores. Hickory Farms was the biggest loss!!!
I currently work in the old belk store as a vacation planner for Carnival Cruise Lines, how strange to go from a beautiful retail center to a re-developing commerce center. The mall also houses the St. Lucie County school board, county tax and voters offices, a call center “psi” that is insurance related and a recently openned charter school!
Yesterday tropical storm Fay dumped 10 to 12 inches of rain, leaving the mall and the parking lot under several feet of water, future is unknown!
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Carnival PVP
September 7th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
As Bob mentioned above, Tropical Storm Fay did a number on the old Orange Blossom, and the Carnival office will soon be permanently closed. Bon Voyage musty, creepy Orange Blossom!
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Nancy
September 11th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Sorry to hear about the flodding and closing of your call center. Will you have a chance at another job with Carnival? The history of the Orange Blossom Mall, to current, is very sad.
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Carnival PVP
September 20th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
To answer Nancy’s question, about 50 Carnival Reps are now telecommuting from home. But unfortunately, many of the PVPs are now unemployed. To date, there are only a few employees working in Carnival’s Orange Blossom office. Once their home computers are ready it’s bye bye! CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM INSIDE THE ORANGE BLOSSOM CALL CENTER WHEN IT WAS AT FULL CAPACITY: http://www.stlucietoysfortots.org/gallery/CArnival
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Roy
September 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Luckily the mall was not around when Fay came. That’s when it would have died.
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Nancy Forst
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I too rememeber the Mall in all its glory days. I recently had to visit the School Board and went inside the mall. It is so sad to see the shape it is in today. Holes in the roof, mold, mildew…how very sad. This building needs to be torn down. It is a health hazard.
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Michael
January 12th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I used to work at Convergys back in ‘03 with the Dell Home Sales account. The mall was pretty much dead then, with only a couple of stores open. I do remember that there was a fire on the roof one night while we were at work, and the alarm systems DIDN’T go off. We were told to get off the phones by a firefighter in full gear… that was funny trying to explain to our customers that we had to call them back, lol!
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Jeff
February 28th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Wow, this brings back memories. Sad, I remember in highschool, some buddy’s and I would hang out on the bench outside the bodyshop, just because there was nothing better to do. and even before that I remember saving my allowance to be able to go to Diamond Jim’s. 4 quarters would get you 4 tokens but a dollar bill would get you 5, and if you bought $10 I think you got 75 and $20 got you 150 and they gave them to you in little velvet bags.
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Jeff
February 28th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I heard it was turned into a county government center now… The SLC school board is there and some other county offices. I haven’t been back there since I moved away in 93
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Kathy Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
@Jeff,
I read your posting. Can you tell me what the store was where the school board is now? ON which end was Sears located.
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Bob H
March 11th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I remember actually working in the mall. I worked in Diamond Jims back in 90-92 and then I joined the navy. I got out in 96 and went back to work there for about another year before I went to school. I moved out of state after school and when i finally came back OBM was dead and gone.
It was a sad day for me. I was there from the start. I remember walking from selvitz road over to the mall everyday and was there open to close when I was not in school. I remeber it fondly going into kay Bee toys and I would get my shoes from payless. I can take a visual walkthrough in my head and remember where almost every store was and what it was.
This place has to be on of my fondest memories as a kid. I loved OBM and because of it I love malls and always will. I would love to see it restored to its former glory but alas….those days are over. The gang crime, Wal-Mart and the TCM and Vero Mall opening really killed OBM. The only reason to go to TCM now is gamestop.
Well, I live in Denver now and when I go back to visit I always walk through OBM just to remember the good times.
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Brynn Batsche
April 26th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Wow! Poor Orange Blossom mall!! I have sooo many memories here as a kid…Corn Dog 7, Kaybee Toys,Piccadelly Cafe and the Ice Rink that came one year!! This was the place in little old Fort Pierce!! What’s really sad is the malls that replaced it such as the Indian River Mall are starting to die a slow death as well (and that one only opened up in 2000)
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Chelsea
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Brynn, I don’t know if you mean the Treasure Coast Mall, here in Jensen, but this one is doing fine. It’s packed every weekend. If only it were bigger, with more interesting stores. Personally I don’t really like the Treasure Coast Mall, so when I looked up the next closest mall, this one came up. And then I did a little more research, and it led me here, and I saw that the mall was no longer a mall. Truly sad.
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Kathy
August 5th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I just moved to Port St. Lucie and had to go to the school board at this mall. It sure doesn’t look as nice as the pictures above. All store names are completely removed, can’t even see an outline to tell what it was before. Sheets of plastic covered almost all of the former store entrances. The directory was there, but all of the store names were removed. Out of curiosity, what store was where the school board is located? Which end was the Sears on ? What was the restaurant on the front? It said it was some kind of religious organization. Interesting thing, I’ve seen malls with many stores missing, but never one that had nothing left like this one. Hope someone can answer the questions about the mall.
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John
August 28th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Hey I used to work at Big Apple Pizza from Nov ‘84-June 85. I remember Diamond Jim’s playing tennis and pinball. Michelle from CVS. Joe Carvelli, Scott Van Duzer, Mike Iovine. I remember Donna. Tom Brennen. Herb & and Laura with the english accent. Todd, Dara Dzus. Joanne Ludavico. Corndogs, Philly Cheesesteak Co. Chic-Filet, Chinese food. I can’t remember all, If you remember me, give me a shout.
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Leanne
November 6th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Wow, I feel so old now.. I used to work at the Friedman’s jewelers and the DeBois Jewelers from about 1985-1992…..all I can say is it wasnt the 80’s wothout this mall. I worked all over that mall, the new Sears when it first opened. I remember fondly the women of the Barnie’s coffee shop..The kept me awake many a Christmas season. I thought of myself as a self proclaimed mall rat..lol…The Colony, and BIG APPLE PIZZA!!! Ha..many a meal from there….wasnt there a Taco Viva too? next to corn dog 7?…and the smelly reindeer they would torment through the Christmas season..lol…and what about the Raffles restaurant that was there originally…I got engaged in that restaurant…and the flower shop at the other, …must say I am sad to it go down the tubes…it was the happening place back then, and yeah I think Walmart helped to kill it, and the PSL people like me, started going to the Treasure Coasst Mall, same stores as OB but way closer…stuff always changes the older we get, maybe that’s why they are memories now..oh, and I have been gone from the area since 1996…miss home heard its all different now.
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