Panama City Mall's sad, unexpected ending

Above Photo of Panama City Mall on August 11, 1976

It was an exciting day for folks in the Panama City area in early August 1976. A much anticipated shopping destination would soon open to the public. As would always be the case, it was more than likely the typical hot, humid Florida summer morning. School kids were getting prepared to return to classes at local schools and were in need of not only school supplies and clothes (which would be purchased by their parents), but also a nice indoor, climate controlled shopping center to give them comfort from the miserable, humid heat found in Panama City, FL in August. 

The Panama City Mall held its grand opening on August 11, 1976 (as can be seen in the above photo). The Panama City Mall was designed and built by Charles N. Agree, an architect from Detroit. The mall's original anchor stores were Sears, and Gayfers. There's no way I would be able to figure an entire list of stores to have operated in the mall, but a few notable ones over the years I can name are B. Dalton Books, Fran's Travel, Spencers, Eye Masters, Kay Jewelers, Radio Shack, Foot Locker, Payless Shoe Source, Rex, Linens and Things, Cost Plus World Market, FYE, and many others that can't be named.  

As was the case with many other cities, the popularity of indoor shopping malls began to decline, especially by the late 2000's. The Panama City Mall was still a relatively popular shopping destination for people living in Panama City proper (including Lynn Haven, Callaway, Springfield, and Parker). Despite the fact that malls have become less popular in the last 15 years, there are some notable ones that still draw decent crowds. A couple I can think of right here in Florida are the Oaks Mall in Gainesville and the Altamonte Mall in Altamonte Springs. Both of those cities have very stable economies from what I can tell, which probably helps their malls. Panama City on the other hand has a somewhat fragile economy along with a high percentage of the local population earning fairly low incomes. Most of Panama City's economy is based on either tourism, the pulp and paper industry, shipbuilding, the Air Force Base, Navy Base, and retail shops and restaurants. Panama City is pretty much devoid of major tech industries. So, when you combine a fragile economy with fairly low paid service industries, retail establishments can have dicey runs around this community. 

I've spoken of this on flickr ad nauseum about the recent impacts of Hurricane Michael. While there is a great deal of debate regarding whether may have reached category 5 intensity or not at landfall, the result of the storm's impact to retail in Bay County has been extensive, and in some cases catastrophic. 

The Panama City Mall was unfortunately one of the major retail destinations to take on catastrophic damage. Fortunately over the last 2 years I have had the opportunity to photograph a lot of the interior of the mall, along with a reasonable amount of the exterior (but not entirely). Below are some of the many photos I took in either 2017 and late Summer 2018 (a month before Michael). 

Driving along Hwy 77 N, I snapped this picture showing the mall's road sign back in March 2017. I liked the original road sign in 1976 better. It made the sign look like a life guard's tower at the beach - more fitting for Panama City. I'm not sure what these RV's were doing in the parking lot, but just off to the right of this photo is/was Sears Auto Center. 

Moving on down from Sears is 2 more fairly large anchor stores, Bed Bath & Beyond and Planet Fitness (which replaced Cost Plus World Market). World Market moved out to Pier Park in 2015.

And here's Dillards, which the original anchor Gayfers rebranded to in 1999. 

I didn't get tons of photos inside the mall, but what I did capture should give just a hint to the type of business the mall was drawing in 2017. This above photo is the atrium, with a nice skylight. I always liked the skylight. 

Panning over to the left was a look at a beautiful mural showing a lake scene. 

Here's a wide shot of the atrium, complete with the murals and skylight effect. 

Jewelry stores usually were tucked away in this corner of the mall. In the case in 2017 Milan Jewelers seemed to be the lone jewelry store left in the mall. It's kind of sad to admit this; but Panama City Mall had definitely seen better days by 2017.

Here's a quick picture of the massage place my mother used to work at before Hurricane Michael came through the area. 

This photo I took in the atrium showed what seemed like a busier part of the mall, the portion containing JC Penney. JC Penny was not originally an anchor for Panama City Mall in 1976. JC Penney was added on in late 1982. 

Here's a closer shot of the interior JC Penney entrance.

Treking my way across the common areas of the mall, I came across something that may have interested me 30 years ago, ty stuffed animals (that were ride-able). 

Even though I didn't eat anything during my trip that day, I did capture this photo of the Food Court sign. This sign looks a bit nostalgic to me, maybe to a day when more people frequented this mall, like the 90's. 

Here's a shot down the walkway. The Panama City Mall had a nice combination of square tiled floors and carpeting in the center area (where you'd find vendors hanging out, who we all know should avoid eye contact with). 

As I was walking over to Sears, I noticed this map and directory on the wall of the common area. It showed all the stores operating in the mall in September 2018 (pretty close to the end). 

Sears Auto Center

Sears wide angle shot

Lastly, here's a copy of shots of Sears interior entrance. Eye Masters was originally located where Visionworks is now. I thing Eye Masters was renamed Master Eye Associates, and then later Visonworks.

Below is a store I've never been to: Bon Worth. I know its a clothing store, but honestly I feel there are just too many clothing stores to spend money at, Especially if you already have Ross, Burlington, or TJ Maxx

I have a few more photos I'll share at another time of Sears. But I thought for anyone interested, this post could possibly bring back some memories of the Panama City Mall. 

As mentioned earlier in this post, Hurricane Michael's impact to the mall was catastrophic (mainly with water damage), but there was also wind damage. After assessing the damage and the cost to repair it, Hendon Properties, the owner of Panama City Mall has decided to "keep Panama City Mall closed for the foreseeable future". You can read this associated article to learn in greater detail at how management arrived at their decision to close the mall here:

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrgDA8E1ypcNSYA0RBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNnYyOWUxBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwM0BHZ0aWQDQjU4NTlfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1546340228/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.wjhg.com%2fcontent%2fnews%2fPanama-City-Mall-to-close-for-the-foreseeable-future-502003821.html/RK=2/RS=SNUD4zNsR.VpVx_Tw2EttITA8xw-

There is still a bit of good news: JC Penney and Dillard's have expressed interest in staying open. Dillard's was the part of the mall the was least damaged and managed to reopen fairly soon after the hurricane. Bed Bath & Beyond and Planet Fitness are hoping to relocate to reasonable locations. I can think of a perfect place for Planet Fitness to relocate to: the former Toys R Us across the street. Then again Bed Bath & Beyond could just as easily fit in the space too.

It will definitely be a long recovering for Panama City after this terrible hurricane. I can see it taking years before things get completely back to normal. I'm hoping over the next couple of years the retail situation will rebound from this disaster as well. I would't wish a hurricane of this magnitude on any other Florida community. However this is the risk of living in Florida. We have to be prepared for these storms every year. Panama City residents were completely taken off guard by Michael, simply because a hurricane of this magnitude has never hit this area in the over 150 years of hurricane records.