When Paige Thomas, 27, from Palatka, came to The Oaks Mall as a child, it was always a family affair. It included going back-to-school shopping or hunting for Christmas gifts with her cousins.
“After we would go shopping, we would go over to Boston Market and hang out as a family,” Thomas said.
People like Thomas have been making memories like these at The Oaks Mall since 1973, when Gainesville's now only traditional indoor shopping center first opened.
“I have a lot of memories from high school coming here,” said Gretchen Murphy, 24, who works at a kiosk at the mall. “I came here almost every week with my friends. We always hit up the photo booths. I have a bunch of photo strips from every time I came here with my friends.”
But, because of financial turmoil, the mall’s future and the potential for future memories to come could be in limbo.
The fallout began in 2018, when stores like Macy’s and Sears, which were staples of the mall since it was first built, closed down. That’s according to the Gainesville Sun. This was followed by a foreclosure complaint filed by U.S. Bank against The Oaks Mall in 2024. They claimed Brookfield Properties, which owned the mall at the time, had not paid the almost $80 million they owed from a 2012 loan.
In 2025, a court put The Oaks Mall into receivership, placing it under the management of Spinoso Real Estate Group DLS LLC. Neither Brookfield Properties nor Spinoso Real Estate Group responded for comment. According to Mainstreet Daily News, later that year, a Spinoso report found the mall was receiving increased customer traffic in mid-2025.
Then, earlier this year, The Oaks Mall almost lost its power after Gainesville Regional Utilities said the mall failed to pay over $100,000 in utility bills; however, the mall began making payments to GRU shortly after, avoiding a power shutdown.
Issues like these with traditional indoor shopping malls are not new in the United States. As of late 2025, there were about 1,200 malls in the country. According to a CapitalOne Shopping report, by 2028 that number could drop to less than 900.
Christina Norton is a retail professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. She says while online shopping plays a part in malls going out of fashion, it’s the high costs of operating an indoor mall along with a changing younger generation that is contributing to this decline.
“I don't think there's any lack of humans wanting to be social animals, even if more and more of what we do is virtual.” Norton said, “But I think one thing you do find is that people look for change.”
She says changing the mall up and adding new features every so often could be key to maintaining customers. Norton also says turning a mall into a unique destination, like the Sawgrass Mall in Sunrise or the International Mall in Tampa, is one way to bring in a larger audience.
“I think this is very appealing to young people,” Norton said. "I do think people are looking for experiences.”
She said places like Shoppes at Thornebrook and Butler Plaza are offering something unique by either creating a social media worthy aesthetic or capturing audiences with grocery stores and other retailers that appeal to a wide range of customers.
“It’s just really difficult to compete with that,” Norton said. “And they're not under all one roof, so I imagine that's going to be an uphill climb for the mall. And quite frankly, the fact that you've got part of UF Health Services, maybe that's the way to go.”
UF Health added eye, audiology, and ear, nose and throat services to The Oaks Mall in 2020. It replaced the former Sears, a 139,000-square foot space.
The Oaks Mall is trying another unique way to maximize its space and create unique experiences: utilizing its parking lot.
This past January, The Oaks Mall parking lot hosted three nights of the “Paranormal Cirque Specter.” It’s similar to a circus but with fear and scary elements. The mall’s parking lot hosted three nights of shows for the traveling circus.
And The Oaks Mall parking is currently hosting “Germany’s Great Bavarian Circus,” with shows starting April 23 and running through April 26. The company hosts more traditional circus acts compared to the paranormal performances earlier this year.
“I did the math once and found that there is more parking in The Oaks Mall parking lot than there is in all of downtown Gainesville,” said Gainesville city commissioner Bryan Eastman. “They just got to be more creative with how they're going to use it.”
No matter what creative strategies to keep the mall relevant, Norton believes the future of malls in America is not bright.
“It’s not to say that people don't want to hang out with each other anymore,” she said. “But there are perhaps more appealing environments to do so.”
But Gainesville mayor Harvey Ward is confident in the mall's viability.
“They go through boom-and-bust cycles and malls change,” he said. “We've seen that over the time The Oaks Mall has been there. But every time somebody predicts that The Oaks Mall is dead, The Oaks Mall just keeps chugging along.”