WestShore Plaza is one of two 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 ...

s located in the Westshore business district of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, developed by Albert L. Manley of Boston, MA. WestShore Plaza was opened in 1967 and was touted as Tampa's first shopping center that was fully

air-conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

. WestShore houses many specialty shops including Francesca's Collection,

LOFT A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), best known as simply New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch ...

, H&M,

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

, Sunglass Hut, and more. The property is owned and managed by

Washington Prime Group Washington Prime Group Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. The company is organized in Indiana with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From January 2015 to September 2016, the company had the name WP ...

. The mall's anchors 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 ...

, flagship

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

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

stores, and an

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

movie theater, with one vacant anchor last 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 ...

. Restaurants include

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 e ...

Grimaldi's Pizzeria Grimaldi's Pizzeria is an American pizzeria chain from the New York City area with several restaurants throughout the United States. Its most famous restaurant is under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn at 1 Front Street, next door to its original ...

, Irish 31, the Bay Area's only

Maggiano's Little Italy Maggiano's Little Italy is an American casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article ...

Seasons 52 Seasons 52 is an American fresh grill and wine bar developed in 2003. The brand concept is to deliver a casually sophisticated atmosphere, seasonal menu, and offer fresh ingredients to deliver menu items that are naturally lighter. As of 2016, ther ...

, and Mitchell's Fish Market Restaurant and there is also a kids play area near JCPenney. A nursing room can be found in the women's restroom and baby changing stations in all restrooms.

History

Westshore Plaza opened on September 28, 1967, as the Tampa Bay area's first enclosed shopping mall. The mall's first anchor was

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 ...

, which actually opened a year before the rest of the mall on October 28, 1966, featuring the Suncoast Room Restaurant on the third floor. The store, which was built to complement their flagship store in downtown Tampa, became their second to be located in a shopping mall a year later (their first was at the

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 ...

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

), and they later went on to open more mall stores on Florida's

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

opened on September 7, 1967, as a second anchor and only original anchor remaining today. It opened along with the first mall segment between it and Maas Brothers, which was dedicated a month later. Like Edison Mall, the center most notably included a

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

five-and-dime store upon its opening, but also featured

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

and a

Pantry Pride Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania i ...

grocery store. The mall was expanded for the first time with a northeast wing in 1974 along with the north parking garage and a third anchor, Robinson's, which sold its Florida stores to

Maison Blanche Maison Blanche (''White House'' in French) was a department store in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later also a chain of department stores. It was founded in 1897 by Isidore Newman, an immigrant from Germany. Maison Blanche is perhaps best remem ...

in 1987, which in turn then sold its store and six others on the West Coast of Florida 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 1991. Dillard’s then moved to the upscale

International Plaza and Bay Street International Plaza and Bay Street is the dominant shopping mall and dining destination on the west coast of Florida, located adjacent to the Tampa International Airport. International Plaza is a traditional enclosed shopping mall anchored by ...

a mile away.

took over the site after moving from

Tampa Bay Center Tampa Bay Center was a shopping mall located in Tampa, Florida, across the street from Tampa Stadium. The mall was developed by The Rouse Company. When it opened on August 5, 1976 the Tampa Bay Center was Tampa's fourth major mall and operated un ...

in 2002, which closed as a result. Sears announced on December 28 that the store would be among 80 stores to shutter nationwide in March 2019. Also in 1991, Maas Brothers was merged with Miami-based

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 ...

, which in turn was renamed Burdine's-

in 2003, dropping the Burdine's name two years later. WestShore Plaza was acquired by the

Grosvenor Group Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on ...

in 1990, which led to a large renovation to the mall. The mall interior was remodeled with a more Spanish-Mediterranean style interior with a three-story bell tower built over the center court.

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

opened on the west end of the mall along with a third expansion on November 12, 1998, but closed in 2013 and became a flagship

in 2014. In March 2014 the Palm restaurant closed after more than a dozen years in business at the WestShore Plaza. The fourth and most recent expansion in 2000 involved relocating the food court east into the former Pantry Pride building and a new west wing of mall space with a 14-screen

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

on the second level. On June 4, 2020, JCPenney announced that it would be closing as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide. However, the store was removed from the list on June 24, 2020 along with 17 other stores so it would be remaining open for now.

Programs

Offered by FIT4MOM, Stroller Strides is a fitness program, held at WestShore Plaza and surrounding areas, that mothers can do with their children. The program includes power walking and running and intervals of strength and body toning exercises using the stroller and the environment. It is taught by trained fitness instructors who put songs and activities into the routine to engage the children, while moms are led through a series of exercises. It is the only program that allows moms to work out with their babies.

Anchors

Current

* AMC WestShore 14 (opened in 2000 as part of fourth mall expansion on an upper level) *

(opened in 2014 in former

location) *

(original anchor to the mall) *

(former Maas Brothers and Burdines location)

Former

(became Burdines in 1991) *

(became Macy's in 2005) * Robinson's (became Maison Blanche in 1987) *

(became Dillard's in 1991) *

(closed in 2001 and reopened as Sears in 2002) *

(former Robinson's, Maison Blanche, and Dillard's location, closed March 2019) *

(closed in 2013 and gutted; redone as Dick's Sporting Goods in 2014)

References

External links

Westshore Plaza Official WebsiteFamily-Friendly Tampa Bay
{{Hillsborough FL Malls Buildings and structures in Tampa, Florida Shopping malls in Florida Washington Prime Group Shopping malls established in 1967 Tourist attractions in Tampa, Florida 1967 establishments in Florida