Westfield Brandon, formerly known as Brandon Town Center and Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon, is a shopping mall located eight miles (13Â km) east of Tampa, Florida, in the suburban community of Brandon. The mall is owned by Australian-based Westfield Group, and is one of five Westfield shopping centers in the state of Florida. Westfield Brandon is directly off Interstate 75, sitting on land between State Road 60 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
History
The mall was first conceived in the late 1980s, and originally opened in 1995 as Brandon Town Center. The mall served a million shoppers in its first seventeen days alone [1]. When it first opened, Brandon Town Center boasted 974,000 square feet (90,500Â m2) of retail space. The original anchors were Sears, J.C. Penney, Burdines (now Macy's), and Dillard's. Maas Brothers was signed but it filed for bankruptcy before the mall was built.
Prior to Westfield Brandon, Carrey Cattle Company owned the land and operated a cattle farm there.
The Westfield Group acquired the Town Center in 2002 and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon" in line with the other Westfield centers [2]. Many of the distinctive fountains featuring metal sculptures of Florida wildlife were demolished in favor of vendor kiosks in the months following the transition. Currently, 986,000 square feet (91,600Â m2) of space is given to retail shops and restaurants. Once the second-most visited mall in Tampa, Westfield Brandon's market share has dropped to fifth out of five malls, with 17 percent of shoppers in a 2005 Tampa Tribune survey stating that they had visited Westfield Brandon in the past month (compared to 25 percent for Tampa's mall leader, International Plaza and Bay Street).
In March 2005, the Burdines was renamed Macy's after briefly operating as Burdines-Macy's. Like all Macy's in Florida that were Burdines, the palm tree columns reminiscent of the "Burdines style" of architecture remained. The "Shoppingtown" was dropped from the name in June 2005.
On January 11, 2006, Westfield announced a 150,000-square-foot (14,000Â m2) expansion, adding a Dick's Sporting Goods anchor in addition to more retail outlets and restaurants (including The Cheesecake Factory and Starbucks), was completed in the spring of 2007. Expanding the mall to include some planned pedestrian-friendly establishments has worried commuters who may have to temporarily find alternate routes to the already-congested State Road 60 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
The new, expanded wing includes stores such as the Apple Store, Atomic Tattoos, bebe, Books-A-Million,, California Pizza Kitchen, Clark's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Fossil, Lucky Brand Jeans, Mixx, Sephora, Quiksilver, Tilly's, Torrid, The Walking Company and White House Black Market.
Major stores
- Dillard's (1995â€"present)
- JCPenney (1995â€"present)
- Macy's (opened as Burdines, 1995-2005, renamed Macy's, 2005-present)
- Sears (1995â€"present)
- Dick's Sporting Goods (2007â€"present)
- Books A Million (2007-present)
See also
- Westfield Corporation
References
External links
- Westfield Brandon's Official Website
