Westfield Sarasota Square, formerly Westfield Shoppingtown Sarasota Square and Sarasota Square Mall, is a shopping mall in Sarasota, Florida. Its anchors are Costco, JCPenney, and AMC Theatres.
History[]
Costco
Arlen Realty and Development Corporation, a predecessor of CBL & Associates Properties, announced Sarasota Square Mall in 1976. Original tenants included Maas Brothers, JCPenney, and J. Byrons, with early tenants including Camelot Music, Kinney Shoes, and Morrison's Cafeteria. Sears was added in 1979. An expansion completed in 1988 added Parisian, which was the store's second location outside its home state of Alabama. Maas Brothers became Burdines in 1991, Burdines-Macy's in 2003, and Macy's in 2005.
AMC Theatres
In 1995, it was reported that Parisian had planned to sell its store to Dillard's. According to the plan, if Dillard's failed to acquire the Parisian store, it would instead build its own store adjacent to JCPenney, and the Parisian site would be sold to Jacobson's. Dillard's ultimately opened in the former Parisian building in 1996. Westfield Group acquired the mall in 2003 from then-owners Coyote Group, and renamed it Westfield Shoppingtown Sarasota Square. The "Shoppingtown" was dropped in June 2005.
Former Sears
AMC Theatres opened in 2008. Dillard's closed its Westfield Sarasota Square store, along with a nearby store at DeSoto Square in Bradenton, in 2009. The Sarasota Square store was demolished and replaced with a Costco in 2012.
In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Westfield Sarasota Square, into Seritage Growth Properties.
On January 4, 2017, Macy's announced that they would be closing its Sarasota Square location as part of a plan a plan to 68 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 26, 2017.
On June 22, 2017, Sears announced that its store would be closing its Sarasota Square location as part of a plan to close 20 additional stores nationwide after announcing 72 closures on June 6, 2017. The store closed on September 18, 2017