Jump to content

Florida Mall/Mall at Millenia


101_ce

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...

21 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Dare I ask what a Fabletics might be?  Sounds like something made up on South Park.

Sadly, I’m not one of the cool kids so I’m clueless. All my bike stuff and what I wear at the Y came from LL Bean (and, in typical Bean fashion it never wears out so I have some shorts going back to the ‘90’s...)

I do have all my UCF t-shirts though - Charge On!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The Forever 21 at Millenia and Riley Rose at Altamonte Mall may close by the end of the year as a result of the parent company’s bankruptcy activity.

So far, other Forever 21 stores locally are unaffected.

 https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-bz-forever-21-store-closings-20191002-cydwatm7xjdqzkt35swoajmybu-story.html

From the Sentinel 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did anyone here realize that Uni-qlo is building a store at Florida Mall?  I think they are taking up a chunk of the old food court space and the Starbucks if you look at the Simon mall map.  Wow.  That's great for Orlando and for Florida Mall to stay cutting edge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
8 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Gonna have to drive a little further to get your M&M fix. The M&M Store is moving from Florida Mall to Disney Springs.

Save some green ones for me!

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-cfb-disney-mm-store-reloactes-20191226-dvpzqjhjunbe5ho52nmx7whigq-story.html

From the Sentinel 

Joining Ron Jon who already left Florida Mall for Disney Springs - though M&M is moving to a store that is ~4,000 sf smaller.

Edited by Camillo Sitte
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Camillo Sitte said:

Joining Ron Jon who already left Florida Mall for Disney Springs - though M&M is moving to a store that is ~4,000 sf smaller.

It seems Florida Mall is becoming more and more of a local mall like Altamonte and leaving the tourists to Disney Springs, Millenia and the outlets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

It seems Florida Mall is becoming more and more of a local mall like Altamonte and leaving the tourists to Disney Springs, Millenia and the outlets.

What does Disney Springs have that Florida Mall doesn't?

Lots of interesting dining choices and a massive movie theater among other advantages.

With the closing of la Madeleine, the most interesting dining option at Florida Mall is the three identical "Asian" food court kiosks all serving the same bourbon chicken and rice.

And there hasn't been a movie theater within ~400 miles of Florida Mall since  the General Cinemas 7-plex [located roughly where Target is today] and Cineplex Odeon [located in the empty strip center directly across the street from Target] both closed in the late '80s.

 

Edited by Camillo Sitte
  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Camillo Sitte said:

What does Disney Springs have that Florida Mall doesn't?

Lots of interesting dining choices and a massive movie theater among other advantages.

With the closing of la Madeleine, the most interesting dining option at Florida Mall is the three identical "Asian" food court kiosks all serving the same bourbon chicken and rice.

And there hasn't been a movie theater within ~400 miles of Florida Mall since  the General Cinemas 7-plex [located roughly where Target is today] and Cineplex Odeon [located in the empty strip center directly across the street from Target] both closed in the late '80s.

 

It’s been interesting to watch Simon move backward on amenities for Florida Mall. I’m curious what their end game is for it.

Given it was announced long before Altamonte but didn’t open until 12 years after (and with an underwhelming anchor selection of Sears, JCP and Belk’s, it’s always seemed cursed.

Edited by spenser1058
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

It’s been interesting to watch Simon move backward on amenities for Florida Mall. I’m curious what their end game is for it.

Given it was announced long before Altamonte but didn’t open until 12 years after (and with an underwhelming anchor selection of Sears, JCP and Belk’s, it’s always seemed cursed.

It was a much more interesting place ~20-years ago.

At one time in the late-90s to mid aughts they had 8 anchor stores; Macy's [nee Burdines], Sears, JCPenny's, Dillards Women, Dillard's Men [separate building], Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom's, and Lord & Taylor.

The Saks [nee Belk's] is now the new food court, the Lord & Taylor [nee Robinson's, Masion Blanche, Gayfer's, Parisian]  is now a two-story Forever 21 and American Girl, and the Dillard's men's store became Nordstrom's which then became Dick's and Crayola. Along the way, other higher end stores like Pottery Barn closed as well.  If the Central and South American tourists ever find a new place to go, that place is dead.

Edited by Camillo Sitte
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Camillo Sitte said:

It was a much more interesting place ~20-years ago.

At one time in the late-90s to mid aughts they had 8 anchor stores; Macy's [nee Burdines], Sears, JCPenny's, Dillards Women, Dillard's Men [separate building], Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom's, and Lord & Taylor.

The Saks [nee Belk's] is now the new food court, the Lord & Taylor [nee Robinson's, Masion Blanche, Gayfer's, Parisian]  is now a two-story Forever 21 and American Girl, and the Dillard's men's store became Nordstrom's which then became Dick's and Crayola. Along the way, other higher end stores like Pottery Barn closed as well.  If the Central and South American tourists ever find a new place to go, that place is dead.

Yes, Florida Mall was the first to discover just how lucrative the Brazilian (and other) tourist trade could be because a local Ivey’s exec reported back to BATUS Retail and said a Saks could make a killing here.

Which it did. For whatever reason, when they went head to head with Millenia, Florida Mall wasn’t the winner. It was even more odd because Simon usually has more oomph than Taubman.

I’m guessing location drove it but in any event it’s been going backward ever since.

When they lost the upscale retail battle (might we add they lost Nordstrom to Jacksonville, for God’s sake, the only top 50 US MSA without a Macy’s, and with Simon’s blessing).

The story was Simon would concentrate on “experiential” retail instead. Losing the M&M’s store is a step back from that.

So what’s next? Is the immediate market area one that can operate on an Altamonte level or are we going back where it started?

The tourists and the Dr Phillips crowd with bucks seem to have gone elsewhere.

 

Edited by spenser1058
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fellow UPer Ken Storey gives us more about the M&M Store move to Disney Springs and what it will look like.

An interesting take on this is that Disney Springs has, largely on the down low, managed to assemble one of the top tier retail experiences in Florida during its transition (I like the take about Disney following a path to neutralize outside competition here as it once did with things like Pleasure Island in response to CSS, Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival encroaching On Cypress Gardens’, ahem, turf, etc.

The headline notes the M&M move is a major blow to Florida Mall. What that implied, but was left out of the article is where that leaves Florida Mall. In short, what will it be when it grows up?

Will it just be the south of town version of a Class B mall like Altamonte? Will it become one of the 25% of US malls slated for conversion and/or demolition during the decade?

Given that the mall is the linchpin of the OBT retail corridor, what Simon decides to do here matters. Oddly, it’s occurring in stealth mode (not to mention it still has one of the relatively few Sears stores left in the state).

https://m.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/12/31/mandm-worlds-move-to-disney-springs-is-a-major-blow-to-florida-mall

From Orlando Weekly 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by spenser1058
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, HankStrong said:

That was not to insult your home or you in any way.  That place is really a mess of neon, random stores in poor repair, and cars everywhere.

oh no offense take at all, I agree with you, im very hopeful that by the middle of this decade the whole area gets cleaned out. The crossroad of OBT and Sand Lake got repaved, new fast food and stores are opening..  lets see

Im in NextDoor and there was a whole conversation about the motels and how they decrease the quality of the area. People want those cleared out

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Simon, who owns Florida Mall, The I-Drive and LBV outlet malls and dozens of other malls around the country, is in an agreement to buy 80% of Taubman, who owns Milennia and many other upscale malls.

This has been an ongoing thing over the years, so it may fall apart again. If it goes through, however, this could have an interesting effect on the malls in town.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-cfb-simon-mall-at-millenia-20200211-hmwzbxyys5bajp2gklbtekns2e-story.html

From the Sentinel 

We might note that Simon owns Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza in Buckhead, which are diagonally across from each other, so a merger doesn’t necessarily mean Simon would be itching to divest properties that are nearby if they’re profitable.

Edited by spenser1058
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.