The Ponce De Leon Mall
2121 Us Highway 1 S St Augustine, FL 32086
(904) 797-5324
A little piece of residential St. Augustine's History
The Ponce De Leon Mall was opened in 1979 and had some renovations done on its 30th birthday in 2009, including the removal of a defunct fountain in the center court.
This mall has to be the tiniest mall in the region.
You can see from the entrance of Belk to the JcPenney on the other side. The mall has roughly 23 store fronts. It has three anchors including a Sears appliance store, which are all open for business. The rest of the mall, however, is in a state of economic decline.
Who its for: It was designed to be a shopping and entertainment center for the St. Augustine residents. At one time, it hosted the movie theater. Now, aside from the anchor department stores, the tenants that are still there are specialized to offer a particular service for a particular interest. Sew Chic, for example, is a privately owned and operated stitching lounge for people who want to learn how to sew something creative. One of the other store fronts is in use as a conference room with a mini-kitchen for anyone who needs to host a meeting, a church function or a birthday party.
Its best assets: The stitching lounge, a greeting card store, a latin food restaurant and a fresh flower shop are some good places to visit.
Other fine retail: For clothes shopping, the mall has JcPenney and Belk. For appliances there is Sears.
A complete list of the other tenants are:
-Sew Chic
-Flowers by Shirley
-GNC vitamins
-Carmelo Latin food
-Hallmark
-A dance studio
-A women's fitness program
-Anchor Faith Church
On the Premises:
-Blockbuster
-A Chinese Buffet
What it lacks: This mall is in need of a revival. In 2008, less than a year before the grand opening of Epic Theaters right around the corner on highway 207, the only theater in town was the Regal cinemas inside the mall. It offered six movies (Epic has 20). When Regal was on board, there was a scrub shop, a jewelry store, Body Central, a nail salon, Wizards novelties and pranks, an auction house and a few other tenants that are no longer there. Now most of the stores are shuttered. The theater has been bought out by a popular church...but since church is only "open for business" on Sunday mornings, it doesn't bring foot traffic into the mall on the other six days. The owner of "The Meeting Room" said that he hopes someone will come and save the mall. A mystery to him, no one seems to want to rent space in the other 16 or 18 closed shops.
One of these shops would be an excellent opportunity for anyone with a new small business offering a retail product, service or trade of some kind.
www.poncedeleonmall.com
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