Coral Square, often referred to as Coral Square Mall, is a regional enclosed

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

located northwest of

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facer ...

Coral Springs Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 134,394. It is a ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, on the northeast corner of Atlantic Boulevard and

University Drive University Drive is a major east–west thoroughfare in Huntsville, Alabama, following US Route 72 into the city from the west. The highway carries on average approximately 56,000 vehicles a day at . Route Description From the west, US 72 enter ...

; it opened in 1984. Originally developed by Eddie Debartolo of DeBartolo Realty, it is currently managed by

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/ lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in In ...

, which owns 97.2%, having fallen to Simon following the 1996 merger of Simon and DeBartolo Realty into Simon DeBartolo Group. The anchor stores are 2

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 ...

locations,

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, Gi ...

, and

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

, along with 120 shops and eateries.

History

The mall opened on October 3, 1984 as part of a growth spurt in western Broward, with three department stores:

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 ...

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

, and

. These were followed by

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh (officially Jordan Marsh & Company) was an American department store chain that was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. It was founded by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh in 1841. The ...

a year later. The mall is almost identical to Boynton Beach Mall (where they opened in that same year) and

The Florida Mall The Florida Mall is a super regional enclosed shopping mall located south of Orlando in unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States, on the southeast corner of Orange Blossom Trail and Sand Lake Road; it opened in 1986. The facility w ...

, among other DeBartolo properties. Then, in 1989,

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 ...

joined as the fifth anchor filling the northeast side of the complex. This brought the store count at the mall up to over 130 stores and the amount of

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wi ...

s to five. No other mall in

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

had five anchors at the time except for

The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale is an upscale super regional shopping mall on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was originally constructed in 1954 as the open-air shopping mall the ''Sunrise Center''. The mall is owned by Keystone ...

, and eventually Pembroke Lakes Mall (1992). Shortly after, store consolidations and acquisitions have started varying the anchor line-up over the years. First, in 1991, Lord & Taylor was converted to

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

and Jordan Marsh was rebranded as a Burdines men's, children's, and home store. The mall was first renovated in 1995, but has never been expanded aside from the aforementioned addition of Sears. Mervyn's withdrew from Florida in 1997, thus the store switched 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 ...

(which had its only area stores at Galleria and Pembroke Lakes at that time, followed by

The Mall at Wellington Green The Mall at Wellington Green is a two level super-regional shopping mall in Wellington, Florida. The mall features Dillard's, JCPenney, Macy's, City Furniture, Ashley Furniture, CMX Theaters and over 170 stores and eateries. As one of the last ...

in 2001). Then, Burdines merged with

in 2003, so the two stores at the mall simply became Macy's in 2005. Then came another renovation in late 2008, and Dillard's later transitioned into a

, which opened September 28, 2011. In many of these aspects, the mall developed a similar fashion to Boynton Beach and Miami International malls. On November 26, 2016, a shop owner shot and wounded an employee, then turned the gun on himself and killed himself. Coral Springs Fire Department took the wounded to a nearby hospital, where they were expected to be ok. The mall was closed for the morning then reopened later in the afternoon with heavily armed Coral Springs Police Officers. On February 8, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 39 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2020. A contract with Round 1 Entertainment was pending as well, as with Pembroke Lakes.

Anchors

Current Anchors

(since October 3, 1984) *

(since September 28, 2011) *

(2 locations) (since March 6, 2005)

Former Anchors

(2 locations): **(Original store) (September 16, 1984-March 6, 2005) **(Men's, Children's, Home) (October 1991-March 6, 2005) *

(October 16, 1997-December 15, 2010) *

(August 24, 1985-September 30, 1991) *

(October 1, 1984-January 19, 1991) *

(July 15, 1991-April 1997) *

(November 15, 1989-April 12, 2020)

References

External links

Coral Square official website
{{Broward County Malls Shopping malls in Broward County, Florida Shopping malls established in 1984 Simon Property Group Buildings and structures in Coral Springs, Florida 1984 establishments in Florida