Shopping Inside Edison Mall in Fort Myers, Florida

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• published: 05 Sep 2014
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George Sanders developed the Edison Mall, which opened in 1965 on US-41 at Colonial Boulevard on the south side of Fort Myers. It was the first mall in the United States to feature rival chains J.C. Penney and Sears as its anchor stores.[2] Maas Brothers was a third anchor, which was its first store to be located in a shopping mall.[3] At the time, US-41 was only two lanes wide, and the only other businesses near the mall were a Publix supermarket and a drive-in theater,[4] now the site of a Kmart store. Sanders sold the mall to Aster Realty in 1979.[5] The mall was expanded with the addition of Burdines in 1979.[6] Another expansion added J. W. Robinson's, who's Florida locations were acquired by Maison Blanche in 1987. Maison Blanche then sold its store and six others in Florida to Dillard's in 1991.[7] Also in 1991, Maas Brothers was acquired by Burdines. Burdines moved its women's clothing into the former Maas Brothers building which was heavily renovated, while retaining men's clothing and home goods at the original location.[8] A 1998 renovation to Edison Mall added skylights in the center court. Along with the rest of the Burdines chain, the two locations at Edison Mall were renamed Burdine's-Macy's in 2003, dropping the Burdine's name two years later.[9] In 2005, Simon announced a further renovation of the mall, which would add an outdoor lifestyle center wing and renovate the interior.[10]