Edison Mall

Edison Mall

Location	Fort Myers, Florida, United States
Coordinates	26°36′07″N81°52′08″W / 26.601881°N 81.868972°W / 26.601881; -81.868972
Address	4125 S Cleveland Avenue
Opening date	1965
Developer	George Sanders
Management	Washington Prime Group
Owner	Washington Prime Group
No. of stores and services	133
No. of anchor tenants	5 (4 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area	1,051,000 sq ft (97,600 m2) [1]
No. of floors	1 (2 in Dillard's, JCPenney, and both Macy's locations)

Edison Mall is an enclosed, super-regional shopping mall in Fort Myers, Florida. The mall opened in 1965, and has been expanded three times since. Edison Mall is owned by Washington Prime Group, which took over the mall in 2014. The mall is named for inventor Thomas Edison, who owned a winter residence and laboratory in Fort Myers. The mall's anchors are Dillard's, JCPenney, and two Macy's stores, and also includes 133 stores and a lifestyle center section. The mall itself is situated on just one floor, but all of the anchor stores (except for the former Sears) have two floors.

History

1960s-1974: Planning, construction, and early years

Interior of the mall as seen in the 1960s (top) and in 2022 (bottom)

The Edison Mall was developed in the early 1960s by George Sanders, who got the idea for an indoor shopping mall in Fort Myers when he heard that Sears and JCPenney were seeking to relocate their Downtown Fort Myers stores to larger locations. JCPenney had been operating downtown in the Langford Building since 1934, and Sears store was located across the street in the Heitman Building. ^{[2] [3]}

Sanders purchased property that was previously a strawberry field for the mall on the northeast corner of U.S. Route 41 and Colonial Boulevard on the south side of Fort Myers. ^[4] At the time, US 41 was only two lanes wide, and the only other businesses in the area were a Publix supermarket and a drive-in theater, ^[5] (which later became the site of a Kmart store, and is now a Floor & Decor).

The Edison Mall was initially anchored by Sears, JCPenney, and Maas Brothers, a Tampa-based department store. Sears opened first on October 28, 1964, opening before the rest of the mall. ^[6] Maas Brothers opened on October 8, 1965 along with the first interior segment of the mall. ^[7] JCPenney opened on March 17, 1966, which completed the original plan for the mall. ^[8] The mall's opening would lead to more commercial development south of downtown Fort Myers. ^[9]

The Edison Mall would be the first time in the United States that rivals JCPenney and Sears were co-located in the same shopping center, and the stores were at opposite end of the mall's original segment. ^[10] The Maas Brothers store was in the middle of the mall and was notable since it was their first store to anchor an enclosed shopping mall. They had previously only operated freestanding stores in downtown areas. Maas Brothers would later go on to open more locations in malls on Florida's Gulf Coast with their next mall stores opening at WestShore Plaza and Tyrone Square Mall. ^[11] The two-story Maas Brothers also contained the first escalators in the city of Fort Myers. ^[7] As with their previous stores, Maas Brothers operated a Suncoast Restaurant within the store on the second floor. ^{[12] [13]} The Edison Mall also notably included a Walgreens and a Woolworth's five-and-dime store in its early days. ^[14]

1974-1980s: Expansion

The mall was renovated in 1977, and the three anchors were expanded within the decade. Maas Brothers added additional space to the back of their store including a second floor in 1974, and Sears doubled the size of their store in 1977. JCPenney added a second floor to their store in 1979. ^{[15] [16]}

The mall underwent its first major expansion in 1979. This expansion was centered around a new fourth anchor, Miami-based Burdines, on the southeast corner. Burdines had been considering four possible locations for a store in Fort Myers in the 1970s and one of the considered locations was at a large regional mall proposed by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation to be located at US 41 and Daniels Road (this mall was never built and is now partially the site of the Bell Tower Shops). ^{[17] [18]} Burdines ultimately selected the Edison Mall for its Fort Myers location and the store opened on August 2, 1979. The Burdines store was a two-story building with the ability to add a third level if needed, and it included a large warehouse-style atrium in the center (which was a unique design for Burdines at the time). ^{[19] [20] [21]} New mall corridors were built from JCPenney to Burdines and from Burdines to Maas Brothers, giving Maas Brothers a second mall entrance.

As the 1979 expansion was under construction, George Sanders sold the mall to Aster Properties, and a food court was built near Sears in 1981. ^{[22] [16]}

Atrium in front of Dillard's

The mall underwent an additional expansion in 1985. This expansion included additional mall space and a fifth anchor, Robinson's of Florida, the Florida division of California-based J.W. Robinsons. Robinson's only lasted two years before its Florida stores were sold to Maison Blanche, a New Orleans-based department store, in 1987. The store was officially rebranded as Maison Blanche on March 28, 1988. In August 1991, Maison Blanche sold its Edison Mall location and six others on the Gulf Coast of Florida to Dillard's which still operates at the mall today. ^[23] Dillard's was expanded and remodeled in 1999. ^[24]

1990s-present: Later years

Also in 1991, Edison Mall's two Florida-based anchors, Maas Brothers and Burdines were merged under the Burdines nameplate by their parent company. The company retained both locations at the Edison Mall and the Maas Brothers store was officially rebranded as Burdines on October 20, 1991. ^[25] The former Maas Brothers became Burdines' women's store while the original Burdines location contained their men's, kids, and home departments. Both Burdines locations were remodeled in 1994. ^[26] Along with the rest of the Burdines chain, the two locations at Edison Mall were renamed Burdines-Macy's on January 30, 2004 as the brands were merged by their parent company. On March 6, 2005, the Burdines name was officially dropped and the stores were fully merged into Macy's. ^[27] Macy's still operates both Edison Mall locations today.

Simon Property Group announced a further renovation of the mall in 2005, which added an outdoor lifestyle center wing and renovated the interior. ^[28]

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Edison Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. ^[29]

In late 2017, a new wing was opened within the mall connecting two existing corridors. The new wing was part of a $4 million renovation and was designed to shorten the distance between the two ends of the mall. ^[30]

On February 2, 2020, Sears closed its Edison Mall location after 55 years of operation. The store was last Sears store to close in Southwest Florida after its locations at Coastland Center and the Port Charlotte Town Center in Naples and Port Charlotte respectively closed in 2018. ^{[31] [32]}

In early 2021, the Lee County Government with the Florida Department of Health briefly operated a COVID-19 vaccination site in the former Sears location. ^[33] In 2021, Spirit Halloween occuiped a former Love Culture store which later became a Christmas Tree Shops in November. Christmas Tree Shops has since closed. On June 12, 2022, The mall was closed due to a water break but reopened a day later.

References

1. "Leasing information for Edison Mall". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
2. Harris, Barbara (17 April 1977). "Penney's grows with Fort Myers". The News-Press. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
3. "Fort Myers River District: Self-Guided Tours" (PDF). Film Fort Myers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
4. "Sanders' Mall Idea Made History". The News-Press. 19 September 1974. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
5. Board, p. 121
6. "Edison Mall Shopping Center Plans and Large Tenants Listed by Sanders". The News-Press. 6 September 1964.
7. Dean, Jewell (8 October 1965). "New Maas Store Will Open Today At Edison Mall". The News-Press. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
8. "Hundreds of Shoppers Flock to New Penney Store in Mall". The News-Press. 18 March 1966. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
9. Coward, Sarah. "Who owns downtown Fort Myers? Fewer players than you think" . Retrieved 1 March 2017.
10. "Influential local: George Sanders". News-Press. 2 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
11. "Maas Brothers History". Tampa Pix. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
12. Austin, Lillian (11 August 1989). "In Eating Department, Maas Brothers Seems to have much in store". The News-Press. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
13. Lisicky, Michael J. (2015). Remembering Maas Brothers. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4671-1473-8.
14. "Edison Mall". Malls of America. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
15. Averill, Roslyn (4 March 1979). "Construction to begin on addition to Penney's". The News-Press. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
16. "1965-1992: Edison Mall, then and now". The News-Press. 15 October 1992. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
17. Bennett, Susan (1 August 1976). "Shopping Centers Vie for Burdines". The News-Press. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
18. "People of influence: J. Foster Pate". The News-Press. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
19. Eleventh Circuit (1991). "Austin-Westshore Construction Co Inc v. Federated Department Stores Inc". Open Jurist. F2d (934): 1217. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
20. "The Store you've been waiting for Opens today". The News-Press. 2 August 1979. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
21. Davis, Pati (27 May 1979). "Burdine's design a unique feature". The News-Press. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
22. Davis, Pati (3 March 1979). "Sale of Edison Mall completed to Dutch firm". The News-Press. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
23. "Dillard's to buy 7 Maison Blanche stores in Florida". Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal. 29 June 1991. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
24. Ruane, Laura (4 November 1999). "Dillard's ready to show off". The News-Press. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
25. Lisicki, Michael J. (2015). Remembering Maas Brothers. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4671-1473-8.
26. Gold, Lara (14 August 1994). "What's up at the mall". The News-Press. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
27. Mitchell, Anne (27 January 2004). "Burdines stores get renamed Friday". News-Press. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
28. "Simon Announces Lifestyle Component at Edison Mall". PR Newswire. 14 July 2005. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
29. "At Edison Mall | Seritage".
30. McDonald, Britni. "Edison Mall to receive $4M makeover". No. 24 May 2017. WINK News. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
31. Ruane, Laura (15 October 2018). "Sears store at Edison Mall will remain open; Naples store closing in November". The News-Press. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
32. Bomey, Nathan; Tyko, Kelly (7 November 2019). "Sears and Kmart store closings: 51 Sears — including Edison Mall location — plus 45 Kmart locations to shutter". The News-Press. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
33. "FDOH-Lee's COVID-19 vaccination site to relocate to former Sears at Edison Mall". WINK News. Retrieved 26 May 2021.

• Board, Prudy Taylor (2006). Remembering Fort Myers: The City of Palms. The History Press. ISBN   159629101X.

External links

• Edison Mall