Featured Article: Lakeshore Mall
Lakeshore Mall
#HistoryTuesday - Tuesday February 10TH 2026
Lakeshore Mall quietly celebrated its 34TH birthday last week. It opened during the first week of February 1992 as the only enclosed shopping mall in Highlands County as well as the surrounding counties of Okeechobee, Glades, DeSoto, and Hardee.
It originally opened with 4 anchor stores - Bealls, Belk, K-Mart, and JCPenney. Sears was added 7 years later in 1999 as an addition to the north wing. K-Mart was the first to close in January 2018. Sears closed next in October 2019. JCPenney closed in July 2020.
Bealls and Belk remain open after 34 years in their original locations - as well as the 8-screen movie theatre (now run by AMC).
There are currently under 1,000 enclosed shopping malls open here in the U.S. (some estimates suggest it's down to 600) - down from over 2,500 during their peak in the mid-1980s. (The last traditional enclosed shopping mall was built in 2006.)
Our Lakeshore Mall continues to survive with new businesses and a mix of activities, events, and exhibits. We're especially looking forward to the long-awaited opening of Rural King - a 66-year-old and growing billion-dollar store nationwide.
A Black History Month exhibit is currently open at the mall celebrating "A Century Of Black History Commemorations". It's open from 12 Noon to 6 PM daily through Saturday February 28TH.
ALSO - on Saturday February 28TH from 9 AM to 3 PM it's the Senior Expo at Lakeshore Mall. It's one of the most popular and best attended events of the entire year. This Just In - We will have a booth there ! We hope that you can visit the mall on that day and stop by and say hello to us !
Sebring Historical Society
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