By: Rachel Pleasant
LAKELAND | What do a paint-your-own-pottery studio and a hip new tea bar have in common?
Kristin Miller.
Miller, 40, owner of Picasso's Cup Art Café, located at 1375 Town Center Drive in Lakeland's
Lakeside Village, and the newly opened Tea Largo just next door, has always been a bit of an
entrepreneur, dating back to her childhood when she blew away the competition in her school's
magazine drive...
By: Kyle Kennedy
LAKELAND | As risky ventures go, buying an independent record store at an uncertain time for the
music industry would seem to rank high on the list of "don'ts." Yet Robert Tucker and James Whelan did it anyway, purchasing Evolution Music Movies Games a
year and a half ago as their first major entrepreneurial foray. Evidence suggests it was an incredibly
bold move...
By: Jeremy Maready
The former Sears Homelife store is getting revamped after nearly two years of dormancy. The 30,000-square-foot retail home location will receive a 14,375-square-foot addition and total
remodeling. Construction of the addition at the Shops of Lakeland Square on U.S. 98 North should begin next
month and completion is expected in June. "It's going to look very different," said Steven...
By: Kevin Bouffard
A Clearwater-based investment company more than doubled its retail holdings in Polk County with
Tuesday's purchase of the Town Center in Lakeland for $32 million. National Properties Trust Inc.
has purchased the 304,000-square-foot shopping center - known by its former name "Searstown" to
longtime Lakelanders - after purchasing the nearly 200,000-square-foot Spring Lake Square in
Winter...
By: Jeremy Maready
LAKELAND - Polk County shoppers have a lot of options and that means retailers have to compete. Lakeside Village, an open-air mall in South Lakeland, opened nearly two years ago; Posner Park is
building a 1 million-square-foot lifestyle shopping center in Haines City; and the 20-year-old
Lakeland Square mall continues to grow, adding more stores and targeting the growing market of...
By: Jeremy Maready
Retailers are finding Lakeside Village to be a shopping mecca. The 3-year-old complex has grown by
about 30 percent in the last year, adding 18 stores and restaurants to its list of nearly 70 retailers. And
its occupancy rate stands at 94 percent, a significant increase from 68 percent a year ago. "We are
just about done," said Gary Bunacci, the complex's property manager...
By: Jeremy Maready
LAKELAND - Burlington Coat Factory will dress up an 85,000-square-foot space at Lakeland
Square mall when it opens its first Polk County location this fall. The New Jersey-based company plans to move into the former Belk location, which was vacated in
2005 when the retailer left Lakeland Square for the new Lakeside Village shopping center...
By: Kyle Kennedy
Polk County is home to a wealth of shopping options, ranging from expansive malls to quaint downtowns filled
with independent retailers. In Lakeland, one popular destination is an outdoor mall that celebrated its grand opening last year. Lakeside Village, in South Lakeland, includes some 610,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. Anchor stores
at the Harden Boulevard and Oakbridge...
By: Jeremy Maready
There is a specific order in visiting the two new businesses coming to the outparcel in front of
Shoppes of Lakeland on U.S. 98 N. Eat dinner at Moe's Southwest Grill before you go in Men's
Wearhouse. The two retailers are tenants of the 7,000-square-foot building behind Olive Garden at 3945 U.S. 98
North in Lakeland. The location will be the second for Moe's in Lakeland, which is also at Lakeside...
By: Jeremy Maready
The lines are drawn, and the city is divided. If you had to pinpoint where South Lakeland ends and North Lakeland begins , Memorial Boulevard could be the city's Mason-Dixon Line. But today, in 2006, the lines between the two are blurring. And while the markets in the northside of town...