The Oaks Mall, Gainesville

The Oaks Mall

6419 W. Newberry Rd. Gainesville, FL

Is a 901,000 square foot one-story setup that forms a circuit.

This means that a mall walker going into the front entrance

Could choose to go left or right and eventually after passing through

The food court they would wind up back at the entrance again.

There are a few wings that go off in a different direction,

Making the actual shape more like half an ampersand.

Opened in 1978, the mall is currently owned by General Growth Properties,

Making it one of the few in my “collection”

That doesn’t belong to either Simon or Westfield.

It does appear to have been updated in the last decade or so.

Its home of Gainesville, FL is a college town,

With much of the area’s livelihood centered around

University of Florida and the Gators football team.

It is also the only mall for quite a vast span of middle-Florida.

It serves 11 counties, and most of the area surrounding Gainesville

Is very rural.

The trip from St. Augustine to Gainesville requires one to

Drive 80 miles on a collection of back roads that pass through

Such towns as Hollister and Hawthorne-

The types of places where the only attraction is a Dollar General.

Likewise, the mall is geared mostly towards a

Middle to lower tier crowd.

Walking through the mall, it was very quiet.

It was a Monday morning, the first day back to school in January,

So the only people walking the mall were elderly folks,

A few drifters and some stay-at-home moms.

The mall seemed a bit dark.

They don’t turn all the lights on during the day, I guess.

There was one part of the mall that seemed darkest,

And quietest. The only establishments in that area were

Dillard’s, a few small stores including Teavanna,

And a vast space of a large store front that had been converted

Into a massage spa… closed for that day.

I went into the Teavanna for a drink

and asked the employees about it.

They said the mall always seems dark and it’s never busy

During the week.

And the light outside Dillard’s flickers, giving it a creepy vibe,

The young man said.

Despite this somewhat negative description of the retail facility,

It was by no means a “dead mall”.

The mall sports

five fully functional brand-name anchors and at least 9/10

Small stores were filled, even if some of the occupants

are family owned retail ventures.

In the center of the mall is a large gator, standing upright on its hind legs,

So people can take photos with it.

There is a store that specializes only in the

familiar blue-and-orange clothing of the UF students and Gators fans.

Dillard’s, Belk and JCPenney are all “in” the circuit, while Sears and Macy’s are off on their own wing. When you walk into the main entrance,

Belk is to your left while JCPenney is to your right.

Clothing stores for youth and young adults include such names as

Forever XXI, Hollister, American Eagle, Cotton On, Buckle and several others.

Some other types of clothing stores include

Loft, Express, Jos A Bank, Banana Republic and a few others.

There are children’s stores like Gymboree.

There are also some other specialized types of retail such as 

Helzberg Diamonds, Foot Locker, Artsy Abode, Pearle Vision and more.

There is a Starbucks inside the mall, a Red Robin restaurant that

Faces out with an inside entrance, a Teavanna, and some typical

Food court restaurants like Chick-Fil-A and some Japanese fare.

At the front entrance, there are the

Red Robin and the Loft stores facing outward.

Next to the Loft is a vacant restaurant that appears to have been

Something like a Carrabbas Italian Grill.

Other restaurants like it

Are placed around the outside of the mall’s lot,

So I’m unsure what “killed” it. High rent? Competition?

Another thing I thought was odd was in the food court.

It had some of the pricier Japanese restaurants in it,

But the Subway was vacant.

Subway is a fairly standard, cheap restaurant that can be found

In all types of economic statuses.

In St. Augustine, we have a nicer, newer restaurant

Complete with a few couches

In historic downtown next to an art gallery,

But we also have an older, simpler Subway inside the chaotic

And notoriously lower class Wal-Mart.

How it got trumped in a mall built for college kids

That also serves everyone for 100 miles

I have no idea.

Oaks Mall holds a few mysteries that I will have to research further.

<to be continued>