The Oaks Mall is an enclosed shopping center in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

. Its anchors include Belk, two

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 ...

stores,

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 ...

, and the University of Florida Health. The mall interior is one floor, but Belk and both Dillard's stores have two floors. The mall serves an extremely large trade area stretching into 11 counties with a population growth rate nearly double the national average. The center also benefits from its close proximity to over 64,000 students attending the nearby University of Florida and Santa Fe College. In 2017, mall occupancy was at 96%. Improvements continue to be made, including the installation of roof-top solar panels, and LED lighting fixtures.

History

The mall was announced in 1974 with JCPenney and Belk-Lindsey (both are still there today) being the first major tenants to lease space. The Oaks Mall was the second major indoor mall in Gainesville after the Gainesville Mall, which was located at

US 441 U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North ...

and NW 23rd Avenue and operated from 1969 to 1993. The Oaks Mall opened in February 1978. Burdines, Sears, and Ivey's all opened in 1983 as part of the second and third stages. Sears relocated from the Gainesville Mall. In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at The Oaks Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. On January 4, 2018, Macy's announced it would be closing its location at the mall as part of a plan to close 11 stores nationwide. A liquidation sale began on January 8 and lasted until March 2018. Dillard's announced plans to expand into the former Macy's space while retaining its existing anchor location (former Ivey's) at the mall in order to offer a wider range of merchandise and opened in November 2018. On April 20, 2018, it was announced that Sears will close its store as part of a plan to close 42 stores nationwide. The store closed in July 2018. In June 2018,

UF Health University of Florida Health (UF Health) is a medical network associated with the University of Florida. It includes two academic hospitals – UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville and UF Health Jacksonville – and several other hospitals an ...

announced plans for a 20 year lease and renovation of the space to contain its ophthalmology and otolaryngology departments. The clinics had their grand opening on January 25, 2020.

External links

The Oaks Mall
Official site
Google Maps

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oaks Mall (Florida), The 1978 establishments in Florida Brookfield Properties Buildings and structures in Alachua County, Florida Buildings and structures in Gainesville, Florida Shopping malls established in 1978 Shopping malls in Florida Tourist attractions in Gainesville, Florida