I was 13 years old when Regency Square Mall opened its doors in Jacksonville in 1967.
And I remember it like it was yesterday.
Before the stores, the restaurants, the fountains and the crowds, there were sand dunes. I remember riding around with my family, watching this enormous new shopping mall take shape where there had been little more than sand.
Every time we drove by, something new had appeared. Another wall. Another section. Another glimpse of what was coming.
For a 13-year-old girl, it was fascinating.
And when Regency Square finally opened its doors on March 2, 1967?
Well, there is only one word for it.
Magic.
Jacksonville had never seen anything quite like it. Everything was shiny and new. The stores were beautiful. It was air-conditioned! And you could walk from one store to another without ever stepping outside.
It was more than a shopping mall. It was a whole new world.
And oh, how I loved that world.
A Teenage Girl, a Woolworth’s Lunch Counter, and a Watch
Regency Square became part of my teenage years.
Every Saturday, my girlfriends and I would meet there. We’d wander through the stores, look at clothes we couldn’t afford, and eventually find ourselves at the Woolworth’s lunch counter.
We’d eat lunch and laugh and giggle about our boyfriends, sharing all those little secrets that only teenage girls understand.
We didn’t have cell phones. We didn’t have social media. We had each other.
And that was enough.
I even made my first purchase for a boyfriend at Regency Square.
It was a watch from Kay Jewelers.
Now, I didn’t have money for a fancy watch. What I had was babysitting money. So I put that watch on layaway and faithfully made payments until I could finally take it home.
I was so proud of that purchase!
And here’s the funny part.
That boyfriend and that watch are both long gone.
Just like Regency Square.
Some things simply aren’t meant to last forever.
But the memories? Those are priceless.
Then Came My Children
Years passed. I grew up, got married and began raising my own kiddos.
And guess where they wanted to spend their time?
Regency Square Mall.
The same place where I had spent my teenage Saturdays became their Saturday hangout.
And I didn’t worry about dropping them off.
In those days, Regency was a place where I felt comfortable letting my children spend time with friends. The mall was busy, full of families, and felt like a safe place for young people to enjoy a little independence.
It was a community gathering place.
I remember Christmas sing-alongs in the food court and special events that brought families together. People didn’t just go to Regency to shop.
They went to be together.
There was something wonderful about that.
A sense of community. A sense of belonging. A sense that this was our place.
And it was.
For generations of Jacksonville families.
But Something Changed
Over time, the world around Regency began to change.
Shopping habits changed. New retail centers opened. Businesses moved or closed. The mall that had once seemed so grand began losing the sparkle that made it special.
And as the years went by, I no longer felt the same comfort about its surroundings that I had felt when my children were growing up.
The place where I once happily dropped off my kids was no longer a place where I felt that same sense of security.
That was heartbreaking.
Because when a community loses places where families feel comfortable gathering, it loses something beyond stores and sales tax revenue.
It loses connection.
And eventually, Regency lost its customers, its businesses and much of its purpose.
Today, the wrecking equipment is doing what time and changing circumstances began years ago.
Taking down what was once one of Jacksonville’s proudest developments.
But What If This Isn’t the End of the Story?
I’ve been thinking about that question as I watch Regency disappear.
And perhaps my perspective is a little different because I remember watching it appear.
I saw the sand dunes become something extraordinary.
Now I’m seeing that extraordinary place turn back into a construction site.
Isn’t that something?
A lifetime between two construction projects.
And it reminds me of a truth we sometimes forget.
Nothing in this world stays the same.
Think about it.
Humanity has moved from horse-drawn wagons to automobiles, from candlelight to electricity, from handwritten letters to messages traveling around the world in seconds.
We’ve watched entire industries appear and disappear.
Towns grew into cities. Cities changed their identities. Businesses that once seemed unstoppable faded away, and new businesses took their places.
My grandparents could hardly have imagined the world I grew up in.
And I certainly couldn’t have imagined much of the world my grandchildren are growing up in.
Yet here we are.
Sometimes we act as though the changes happening around us are the biggest changes humanity has ever experienced.
But in the grand sweep of history, our little moment is just a blip on the screen of humanity.
Change isn’t new.
It’s the story of mankind.
The real question has never been whether things will change.
The question is what we do with that change.
What Comes Next for Regency?
There is already a new vision taking shape where Regency Square once stood.
Blackwater Development purchased much of the former mall property in 2025 and is working to transform it into a mixed-use development called The Nexus at Regency.
The plans envision new shopping and dining opportunities, residential development, and other commercial uses.
The first phase includes demolition of the original eastern mall corridor and construction of new roads, utilities, parking, landscaping and commercial sites.
Among the businesses identified in the development plans are Raising Cane’s, Chase Bank and Circle K. Other portions of the former mall property have separate owners, and not every building is part of the current demolition.
Will the new Regency become as special to future generations as the old Regency was to mine?
I have no idea.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful if it did?
And wouldn’t it be even better if we learned something from the past as we build its future?
Here’s the Leadership Lesson
As someone who has spent a lifetime around entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders, I see something important in Regency’s story.
The Stein family looked at sand dunes in Arlington and saw an opportunity.
They didn’t see what was there.
They saw what could be there.
And they built it.
That’s what visionary leaders do.
But great leadership requires more than the courage to build something new.
It requires the wisdom to recognize when the world has changed, the willingness to adapt, and the determination to make the next chapter better than the last.
We can’t rebuild 1967.
We can’t bring back my Woolworth’s lunch counter or the excitement of finally paying off that watch at Kay Jewelers.
And we can’t simply wish away the problems that have made some of our public spaces feel less safe or welcoming.
But we can insist that the places we build today are places where families want to gather again.
We can build beautiful spaces. We can encourage entrepreneurship. We can make public safety a priority. We can create opportunities for young people.
And we can remember that a successful development isn’t measured only by the number of buildings constructed or businesses recruited.
It’s also measured by what it gives back to the people who live around it.
I hope the people designing Regency’s next chapter understand that.
Because the original Regency wasn’t special simply because it had stores.
It was special because of the life that happened inside those walls.
Goodbye, Old Friend
I won’t pretend that watching Regency Square come down doesn’t make me a little sad.
It does.
It represents so many chapters of my life.
A little girl watching something magical rise out of the sand.
A teenager laughing with friends over lunch.
A young woman buying a watch for her boyfriend.
A mother dropping off her children at the very place that had once meant so much to her.
Those are precious memories.
But I’m not going to spend my days wishing we could go backward.
Because backward isn’t an option.
Back then will never be again. But up ahead can be better than right now.
That’s the opportunity in front of Jacksonville.
Let’s honor what Regency was.
Let’s learn from why it faded.
And then let’s make sure what rises from those sand dunes next is something future generations will be proud to remember.
After all, I saw magic happen there once.
Maybe Jacksonville can make a little magic happen there again.
Readers, I’d love to hear from you. What are your favorite Regency Square memories? Did you work there? Have your first date there? Meet friends at Woolworth’s? Take your children to see Santa? Share your memories—and especially your old photographs. Let’s preserve a little Jacksonville history together.
