The Avenues (shopping mall)

The Avenues

Location	Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Address	10300 Southside Boulevard
Opening date	September 26, 1990
Developer	CBL & Associates Properties
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group (25%)
No. of stores and services	138 [1]
No. of anchor tenants	5
Total retail floor area	1,112,428 sq ft (103,347.9 m2) [2]
No. of floors	2 (3 in Parking Garage)
Website	The Avenues

The Avenues (also referred to and often known as Avenues Mall) is a two-level regional shopping mall located on the southside of Jacksonville, Florida, and opened in 1990 on the Interstate 95 corridor, and is off exit 339 at the intersection of U.S. 1 (Philips Highway) and Southside Boulevard. The mall, managed by Simon Property Group, which manages 25% of it, has a parking deck on the northwestern side. Its anchor stores are Belk, Dillard's, Forever 21, and JCPenney. Other stores located at the mall include Aldo, H&M, LOFT, BoxLunch, Build-A-Bear Workshop, MAC, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Pandora, and Le Macaron French Pastries.

History

The mall opened on September 26, 1990 with JCPenney, Maison Blanche (originally slated to open as May-Cohen's/May Florida), and Sears, followed by the opening of Dillard's (first proposed as Ivey's, which was purchased on June 4) in 1991, along with another at Cool Springs Galleria. Furthermore, Parisian was dedicated in 1994, which was also done in that same year at Cool Springs and a year later at the brand new Seminole Towne Center. ^{[3] [4]} Maison Blanche changed twice-first to Gayfers in early 1992 and then Belk in late 1998.

A major renovation in 2005 featured a new entrance with stained glass, neutral paint colors to complement Italian limestone on the ground floor, replacing restrooms, ceilings, lighting, benches, lounge chairs, modernizing the glass elevator, and a new children's play area. Nearly $10.5 million was spent and the changes were completed in April. ^[5]

On August 2, 2006, Saks Incorporated announced an agreement to sell its Parisian specialty department store business to Belk, Inc. ^[6] Shortly thereafter, the Avenues Parisian store was briefly closed and converted into the men's and children's store, with the women's departments staying in the existing store, where Belk consolidated all of its departments in February 2010. ^[7]

Since 2010, the mall has increasingly faced struggles due to marginalization from St. Johns Town Center and several long-time tenants vacating due to the ongoing retail apocalypse. Most of the mall's higher-end stores have moved to St. John's Town Center such as Gap, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, Oakley, Pottery Barn, Ann Taylor, Williams-Sonoma, and Coach. Others have gone out of business or left the market such as Brookstone, The Body Shop, New York & Company, Justice, Skechers, Yankee Candle, Disney Store, Teavana, Gymboree, Jos. A. Bank, and The Walking Company among others.

On November 18, 2010, Forever 21 opened its doors in the location formerly occupied by the Belk Men and Kids store. This is Forever 21's second-largest location in the country and largest in the entire state of Florida, at 116,000 square feet (at the time, the space represented 8.8% of the mall's 1.1 million square feet). ^[8]

H&M opened a two-story store at the mall on September 6, 2012. ^[9]

In early 2014, Buffalo Wild Wings opened on the second floor. ^[10]

On August 31, 2019, Sears announced that it would be closing this location as part of a plan to close 85 stores nationwide. The store closed in December 2019. ^[11]

Current anchor stores

• Dillard's 210,104 sq ft (19,519.3 m²)
• Forever 21 116,298 sq ft (10,804.4 m²)
• JCPenney 123,029 sq ft (11,429.8 m²)
• Belk 181,460 sq ft (16,858 m²)
• Furniture Source 125,330 sq ft (11,644 m²)

Former anchor stores

• Maison Blanche (became Gayfers)
• Gayfers (became Belk)
• Parisian (became Belk Men's, Children's and Home)
• Belk Men's, Children's and Home (became Forever 21)
• Sears 125,330 sq ft (11,644 m²) (now Furniture Source)

References

1. "About The Avenues". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
2. "The Avenues". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
3. "ULI Market Profiles: North America". 1995.
4. Flaisig, Liz (March 4, 2004). "New retailers moving in to The Avenues". Jacksonville Business Journal.
5. Flaisig, Liz (April 8, 2005). "Simon finishes $10 million renovation of The Avenues". Jacksonville Business Journal.
6. "SAKS INCORPORATED AGREES TO SELL PARISIAN TO BELK, INC. FOR $285 MILLION" (Press release). Saks Incorporated. Aug 2, 2006.
7. "Forever 21 leases 116,000 square feet at Avenues mall".
8. Conte, Christian (November 26, 2010). "Forever 21 leases 116,000 square feet at Avenues mall". American City Business Journals .
9. "H&M retail store opens at Avenues Mall".
10. "Dining Notes: Buffalo Wild Wings opens at The Avenues".
11. Tyko, Kelly (August 31, 2019). "Kmart, Sears store closings: More locations to shutter by end of 2019". USA Today. Retrieved August 31, 2019.

Coordinates: 30°11′05″N81°33′15″W / 30.184664°N 81.554074°W / 30.184664; -81.554074