Paddock Mall is an enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. Opened in 1980, the anchor stores are

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, and

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, ...

. There is 1 vacant anchor store, formerly occupied by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

History

The first plan for Paddock Mall was made in 1973 by local developers, who sold the land to

Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation Edward John DeBartolo Sr. (May 17, 1909 – December 19, 1994) was an American businessman. In 1971, his Ohio-based corporation was ranked as 47th among the nation's top 400 construction contractors. In 1983, DeBartolo was included on ''For ...

. DeBartolo and

Arlen Realty and Development Corporation Arlen Realty & Development Corporation, also known as Arlen, was a real estate investment trust founded in 1959 by Arthur G. Cohen and Arthur N. Levien. In the early 1970s, it was one of the largest publicly traded real estate investment trusts. A ...

opened Paddock Mall in 1980. Original anchors included

Maas Brothers Maas Brothers was a leading Tampa, Florida department store founded by Abe and Isaac Maas in 1886 that grew from a small store to a chain of 39 stores throughout the Gulf Coast of Florida. The Maas Brothers brand went defunct in 1991 when it wa ...

-Lindsey, and

. A 1991 expansion added

as a fourth anchor; the same year, the Maas Brothers store was absorbed into

Burdines Burdines (} ) was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew i ...

. In 1997, a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

was added on the south end. Burdines became Burdines-

in 2003 and then just Macy's in 2005.

2010s

Washington Prime Group, based in Columbus, Ohio acquired the mall along with

Boynton Beach Mall Boynton Beach Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Boynton Beach, Florida, owned by Washington Prime Group, who assumed ownership of the mall and 97 others after its spinoff from Simon Property Group in 2014, which in turn took over from develope ...

Edison Mall 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 ...

Seminole Towne Center Seminole Towne Center is a super-regional enclosed mall located in Sanford, Florida, north of Orlando at the intersection of I-4 and SR 417. It has of gross leasable space. Current anchors are JCPenney, Dillard's, Dick's Sporting Goods, & Elev8 ...

, and Melbourne Square as part of its merger with Glimcher Properties in 2014. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Paddock Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide.

2020s

On October 5, 2022, it was announced that the former

store would be redeveloped into a mixed-use development. On December 23, 2023, a targeted shooting at Paddock Mall in Ocala, Florida, resulted in one dead (David Nathaniel Barron) and one injured. Mall evacuation took place, and a person of interest was sought. The motive is unknown, and the investigation is ongoing. Witnesses described chaos.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Ocala, Florida Tourist attractions in Marion County, Florida Washington Prime Group Shopping malls in Florida Shopping malls established in 1980