Swampy’s Florida Historic Structures: 1957 Sears in Tampa!
Above is a view of the Sears built at 2010 E. Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. I saw it on the Vintage Roadside Facebook page. I knew where the location was and that the Fun-Lan Drive-in Theater was next door and that the widening of Hillsborough Avenue over the years has been creeping up on this building along with all the others along the road. Many structures are gone due to the widening. Not only has the Sears building stayed, but is in use as a technical college. Someone can refresh my memory, but wasn’t this building being used by Hillsborough County Public Schools in the ’80s and ’90s?
This building was part of a Sears expansion that was seen across Florida and the nation. A few years later Sears would also build a free standing in Orlando which I featured here a couple weeks ago. Unlike Orlando, where an entire mall, the Fashion Square Mall, was attached to the Sears, this building in Tampa watched retail stray off into all directions until the mall craze set into Tampa in the early ’70s and this building emptied as the store moved to University Square Mall on Fowler Avenue miles away.
Anyway, I roamed off to see what else I could learn and found this on the flicker site –
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“Sears – E Hillsborough Ave / 22nd St, Tampa (now Erwin)
Built in 1957, this was originally a Sears department store. In 1977, it was granted to the Hillsborough County School Board which converted it into the David G. Erwin Area Vocational – Technical Center, completed in 1980. The exterior has changed very little from this postcard view, except for signage. (Note the large script letters in the Sears logo of that time.)
This former Sears store is an prime example of the movement of retail from the downtown area to the suburbs during the 50s and 60s. There had been 2 Sears stores in downtown Tampa – one at 801-807 Florida Ave
and one at 1702 Franklin St.
Retail moved even farther out in the 70s, with a Sears opening in 1974 in University Square Mall 3 miles north. East Lake Square Mall (without a Sears) opened 3 miles east of here in 1976 (and closed in 1995 after Brandon Mall opened even farther out).
Currently, following a decline of last few decades, this area is experiencing a renaissance in new construction – new retail and housing.
Text from the back of this postcard:
The rapidly growing northeast section of Tampa, Florida was chosen by Sears, Roebuck & Co. for the location of their magnificent new store at 2010 East Hillsborough Ave. The architecture, tropical landscaping, and huge parking lots exemplify the latest trend in retailing in this area.
Aerial photo from 1959, with Fun-Lan Drive-In Theater in upper right. (Hillsborough County Public Library archives)
Excellent 1958 photos of this store as profiled in Architectural Forum … great website too!”
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Do check out that last link and it’s photos of the 1957 structure as Sears.
Here are more current photos of the site.
Thank goodness that this building has found new life and still standing in Tampa!
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