Winter Park Village is an outdoor shopping center in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

featuring many shops, restaurants, and a 20-screen

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

. The center opened in 1999 on the site of the former Winter Park Mall.

History

The site was originally home to Winter Park Mall, which was Greater Orlando's first enclosed shopping mall. The mall opened in 1964 and had

Ivey's Ivey's (J.B. Ivey & Company), a former department store chain, was acquired by Dillard's, Inc. in 1990. Ivey's was based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was founded in 1900 by Joseph Benjamin (J. B.) Ivey. History J. B. Ivey opened the first Iv ...

and

J. C. Penney 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, Girl ...

as the original anchor stores. At the time, the J. C. Penney store was the second-largest in the nation. A large section of the mall burned on Easter morning, April 6, 1969, in "the first major fire incident in the United States involving an enclosed shopping mall," and was rebuilt. Ivey's was sold to

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

in 1990. Over the years, the mall lost popularity, as many shoppers preferred the Park Avenue, Winter Park's upscale shopping district, or newer malls in the area. J. C. Penney moved to

Orlando Fashion Square Orlando Fashion Square is a split one-story, two-story indoor shopping mall located in Orlando, Florida. Opened in 1973, it features 79 stores in over one million square feet of shop space. The mall's anchor stores are Macy's, Floor & Decor, and Di ...

in 1993 leaving Dillard's as the only anchor store. At the time, developers had begun seeking replacements for the J. C. Penney store, with prospective replacements including

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, ...

and Parisian. After this, the mall’s owners entered into a joint venture between Don M. Casto Organization and the Nikitine family for redevelopment. The mall was razed in 1998 except for the Dillard's store. However, Dillard's did not renew its lease in 1999, and the store was redeveloped. Winter Park Village was officially dedicated on November 15, 1999, but some stores and restaurants such as

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

and

P. F. Chang's China Bistro P. F. Chang's China Bistro is an American-based, casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang that serves Asian fusion cuisine. Centerbridge Partners owned and operated Chang's until acquired by the private eq ...

opened as early as March. The empty Dillard's building was divided into smaller spaces to house

The Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. The company operates 219 full-service restaurants: 206 under The Cheesecake Factory brand and 13 under the Grand Lux ...

and

Guitar Center Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various subsidiaries in ...

on the lower level and 58 loft apartments on the upper level. The new center also included a new

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

supermarket and a Regal Cinemas. Albertsons closed in 2008 and was replaced with

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...

. Borders closed in 2011 after the company decided to close all stores, and the building was demolished and replaced with two smaller buildings housing

Chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...

and

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

. Chamberlins Market & Cafe—which was one of the only stores that remained from the Winter Park Mall—closed in 2016 with

REI Rei or REI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Rei, a story arc of the anime ''Higurashi When They Cry'' *Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious'' *Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Eva ...

taking its place in 2017.

References

{{Greater Orlando Malls Shopping malls in Florida Shopping malls established in 1999 Buildings and structures in Winter Park, Florida 1999 establishments in Florida