Lakeland Square Mall facts for kids
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Entrance to Lakeland Square Mall, April 2017
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| Location | Lakeland, Florida |
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| Opening date | 1988 |
| Developer | Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation and Homart Development Company |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| No. of stores and services | 92 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 (6 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 890,000 sq ft (83,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 4,500 |
| Public transit access |  Citrus Connection bus: 1, 15, 47, 61 |
Lakeland Square Mall is a large shopping mall located in Lakeland, Florida. It is one of the main shopping centers in Polk County. You can find it right off I-4, between the cities of Tampa and Orlando. The mall currently has several big stores. These include Burlington, Dillard's, Resale America, J. C. Penney, and Cinemark Theatres.
Contents
History of Lakeland Square Mall
How the Mall Started
Lakeland Square Mall first opened its doors in 1988. When it was new, it had several major department stores. These first big stores were Mervyn's, Sears, and Belk. Soon after, another large store called Maison Blanche also opened. In 1990, J. C. Penney joined the mall. Then, in 1994, Burdines opened a store there too. Both J. C. Penney and Burdines moved from downtown Lakeland to the mall.
Changes Over the Years
Over time, some of the original stores changed. In 1997, Dillard's took over the spot where Mervyn's used to be. Maison Blanche became part of Dillard's the next year. Burdines changed its name to Burdines-Macy's in 2004. It then fully became Macy's in 2005.
Belk closed its store in 2005. This happened when a new Belk store opened nearby at Lakeside Village. A new store, Burlington Coat Factory, opened in the old Belk spot in 2007.
New Stores and Entertainment
In 2012, the Dillard's store closed. Its operations moved to the former Maison Blanche store. The old Mervyn's building was taken down in 2012. This made space for a new 12-screen Cinemark Theatres and a Sports Authority store. Both of these new places opened in 2013.
In 2015, the Sears property was sold to another company. Sports Authority closed in 2016, along with all other stores in its chain. An exciting new place called Urban Air Adventure Park opened in that space in August 2018. Macy's closed in 2017. Resale America then opened in the former Macy's spot in November 2019. Sears also closed its store in 2018. However, Charlotte Russe reopened at the mall in 2019. This was part of the chain opening 100 new stores.
