Waterford Lakes Town Center runs open-air along Alafaya Trail near State Road 408, a power-and-lifestyle format that reads differently from the enclosed Florida Mall to the southwest. Under Kimco Realty, it serves East Orlando and the University of Central Florida on a footprint built for park-and-walk convenience rather than a single enclosed loop.
Macy’s anchors the department register, with Best Buy, Ross Dress For Less, Barnes & Noble and Five Below supplying the big-box draw an open-air center leans on for base traffic. The configuration favors destination-and-go trips, the visit pattern a suburban and student catchment repeats most.
The specialty mix skews to that catchment. Aerie, Victoria’s Secret, LOFT, Torrid and Soma carry apparel, the athletic line runs through Nike, lululemon, JD Sports, Crocs and Hibbett Sports, and beauty concentrates in Ulta, Sephora and European Wax Center. Build-A-Bear and Fit2Run round out the family and specialty end, a co-tenancy tuned to a young, campus-adjacent population.
The dual pull is what makes the format work here. Student demand and established East Orlando households want different things from the same center, and the open-air power-and-lifestyle mix serves both without forcing either into the enclosed-mall experience the Florida Mall already owns.
