Swampy’s Postcard Wednesday: Lakeland – Southgate Shopping Center
on May 18, 2011
at 1:23 am
See the arch? It’s still there in Lakeland on Florida Avenue! So is the Publix and the Hardware store. The rest of the stores are gone. This card is from around 1970. Interesting that the lineup of stores of W.T. Grant to Publix was nearly identical to the lineup at Colonial Plaza Mall in Orlando. Is there another location of a strip mall that had a similar lineup? I would guess there was.
This is the same mall used in the film ‘Edward Sissorhands’.
Below is a closeup to the last line of shops.
If you have any stories or memories of the mall, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Those of us who grew up in Lakeland during the 50s-70s have VERY many happy memories of Southgate…It was a big part of our lives!…From shopping with our Moms as children, and the anual carnival in the parking lot, to hanging out at the soda fountains as teens…Many worked there as students…I personally made about 100 costumes from digging through the clearance bins at the fabric shop…Still love going to the Publix there!