Regency Square Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Opened in 1967, the mall features more than 100 stores, including five anchor stores (Belk, Dillard’s Clearance Center, Homeworks Furniture, JCPenney, and Sears) and a food court. It is managed by General Growth Properties of Chicago, Illinois.
Montgomery Ward closed in 2001. Starting in 2003, General Growth began talking with other retailers, such as Kohl’s (which did not operate any stores in Florida at the time) to fill the space vacated by Montgomery Ward.Finally, in 2006, Homeworks Furniture opened in the former Montgomery Ward space.
Since 2000, crime has become a major issue at Regency Square. Over 1,000 incidents were reported in 2004, the highest ever. Between September, 2007 and September, 2008, 650 unlawful acts were documented by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, more than the combined total of crimes at Jacksonville’s other two major
retail centers, The Avenues Mall and St. Johns Town Center. On January 26, 2008, a suspect was killed by an off-duty policeman who was called to pursue a fleeing man who had stolen a pair of jeans from the mall’s Belk store. The shoplifter shot the officer four times before being fatally wounded himself.
