Volusia Mall - History

History

Volusia Mall opened in 1974 at a 93-acre (380,000 m2) site on U.S. Highway 92, adjacent to I-95 and U.S. 1. It was originally built with 4 anchors; Ivey's, May-Cohens, Sears and JCPenney. Ivey's opened with the mall, in October 1974. May-Cohens came inline in December. Sears was the next to open, in February 1975, followed by JCPenney, in August 1975. All of the anchors except JCPenney were built as two-level stores.

The first expansion of Volusia Mall was completed in March 1982, when two-level Burdines and Belk-Lindsey stores were added to the existing structure.

Maison Blanche acquired the May-Cohen's / May Florida chain in June 1988. The store was branded as a Gayfers in early 1992, when the Maison Blanche chain was acquired by Fairfield, Ohio-based Mercantile Stores. Ivey's was the first anchor to be converted to Dillard's, doing so in June 1990. Belk Lindsey's location at the mall became a second Dillard's in November 1996. The mall gained its third Dillard's in 1998 when the Gayfers chain (along with Mercantile Stores) was acquired by the Little Rock retailer. Burdines was dual-branded as Burdines-Macy's in 2003, dropping the Burdines name in 2005.

Original tenants in Volusia Mall included a Walgreens pharmacy and a tri-screen movie theater. After Walgreens relocated outside the mall, its space was converted to another mall entrance, while the theater became a storefront church. Center court housed a large fountain and wishing well a couple hundred feet in size. The structure featured multiple geysers as well as a jogging path and was also used to stage special events. This feature was downsized in 1997.

Volusia Mall is the largest mall in the Daytona Beach area.