West St. Petersburg sits about four miles from the Gulf beaches. Before the mall went up, the Tyrone area was mostly flat land, roadside shops, and a string of roads leading toward the coast.
The name "Tyrone" had been on local maps for years. Fuller Flying Field, one of the city's earliest airports, once stood somewhere near 22nd Avenue North and what later became Tyrone Boulevard.
The former airfield lay near the land that later became a major commercial center on St. Petersburg's west side, with vast parking lots, department stores, and Tyrone Square at its core.
The ribbon was cut on October 5, 1972. Miss Florida Suzanne Charles, Florida Lieutenant Governor Tom Adams, and developer Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. were all there.
Only 20 stores were open that day. The rest opened over the following months. When the mall came to life, it made the Tyrone corridor the city's second main commercial hub, outside of downtown.
The inside of the new building featured a large fountain at its center and recessed artificial lighting overhead.
By Thanksgiving 1972, people across the west side of St. Petersburg knew exactly where they were going.
Downtown had always been the place people traveled to for that kind of shopping trip. A mall several miles to the west had given them another option.
Tyrone Square Mall Fills In Through 1973
Sears had been on the site since April 1968, four years before the rest of the mall opened. Maas Brothers opened in August 1972, two months before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
JCPenney followed in January 1973, and Robinson's of Florida completed the four-anchor lineup in September 1973.
In 1972, the inline stores included Egerton and Moore, Fremacs for Men, Foxmoor Casuals, Figure Fair, Disc Records, SupeRx Drugs, and Hickory Farms.
The movie theater, called Tyrone Square 6, opened on Christmas Day 1972, with the mall still completing its buildout elsewhere in the complex.
Maas Brothers had been a Tampa Bay retail fixture since the late 1800s. Robinson's of Florida was a regional chain with roots in St. Petersburg. Tyrone Square, at full build, had a distinctly Florida character.
How the Original Anchor Stores Changed Over Time
Robinson's of Florida was sold to Maison Blanche in 1987.
The Tyrone location got the Maison Blanche name in 1988, then switched to Dillard's in 1991 when Dillard's acquired Maison Blanche's Gulf Coast, Florida stores.
Maas Brothers took a different route. It became Burdines in 1991, then Burdines-Macy's in 2004 as part of a nationwide rebranding effort, and finally just Macy's in 2005 when the Burdines name was dropped for good across Florida.
By 2005, Macy's was in the old Maas Brothers spot, and Dillard's was in the old Robinson's spot. Sears and JCPenney were still there under their original names.
But the two stores that had made Tyrone Square feel like a Florida mall - Maas Brothers and Robinson's - were both gone.
In their place were national chains with the same look and the same layouts found at malls across the entire country.
Large anchor stores still sat at each end of the building, connected by the same long interior corridors that had been there since 1973.
The basic shape of the mall had not changed. But anyone who had grown up shopping at Maas Brothers or Robinson's of Florida would have walked through those doors in 2005 and found nothing familiar.
Simon Takes Over and Rebuilds the Food Court
Simon Property Group acquired Tyrone Square through its merger with DeBartolo, completed in August 1996.
Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. had stood at the 1972 ribbon cutting; twenty-four years later, the mall he opened became part of Simon's national portfolio.
A new 35,000-square-foot food court opened in the summer of 1998, replacing most of the old food row near the Tyrone 6 theater and seating 528 people.
Flamers, Sarku Japan, China Max, Kelly's Cajun Grill, and Nature's Table joined the lineup, alongside continuing operators including Chick-fil-A, Steak Escape, and Sbarro.
The 22nd Avenue North entrance, closed since November 1997, reopened on June 24, 1998.
Planned additions included Finish Line, Journey's, and a 25,000-square-foot Borders Books and Music with a cafe, targeted for spring 1999.
About 20 more retailers were expected to join as the broader buildout continued.
Opening Up the Facade and Closing the Theater
Simon completed a lifestyle addition at the northeast corner of the mall in November 2005.
About 40,000 square feet on the Tyrone Boulevard side were rebuilt with an outward-facing design: the old concrete facade came down, a new entrance went in, landscaping was added, and outdoor seating appeared along the boulevard.
Three new retailers and two sit-down restaurants filled the section, with J. Jill, Jos. A. Bank, and C.J. Banks among the incoming tenants.
The total footprint grew to about 1,096,000 square feet. By removing the concrete wall that had faced Tyrone Boulevard since 1972, the renovation gave the mall a visible presence on the street it had never had before.
In January 2007, AMC closed the original Tyrone Square 6 after a 34-year run. Old Navy eventually moved into the vacated space.
For nearly nine years, the mall had no cinema - the corridor that had hosted moviegoers since Christmas 1972 became a retail floor.
A New Cinema and a Fifty-Year Anchor Closes
In November 2014, Simon announced a luxury theater for Tyrone Square, expected to open in 2016.
The concept departed from the old six-screen format entirely: wall-to-wall screens, 3D capability, D-BOX motion seating, and electronically controlled reclining leather seats with footrests.
The Cobb Luxury 10 opened on April 15, 2016, in a 50,000-square-foot space with a full-service restaurant and bar. It has since been rebranded CMX Tyrone Luxury 10.
By 2015, Sears Holdings had spun part of its real estate into Seritage Growth Properties, and the Tyrone parcel was part of that transaction.
By fall 2016, after nearly 50 years at the property, Sears was closing; 126 employees were being laid off, and the 188,500-square-foot building was set for demolition.
The Seritage replacement plan brought in Dick's Sporting Goods at 50,000 square feet, PetSmart at 20,000, and Lucky's Market for the grocery slot, with Five Below and TD Bank among the smaller tenants.
ALDI, Artist Studios, and Ongoing Changes
Lucky's Market opened in the redeveloped Sears space and then closed. Hitchcock's Green Market took the grocery box next and also closed in 2022. ALDI moved in and opened on February 1, 2024.
In September 2023, Seritage sold the broader redeveloped parcel at 2300 Tyrone Boulevard to Boston Capital LLC for $37.8 million.
October 2022 marked Tyrone Square's 50th anniversary. The building was no longer at peak occupancy or foot traffic, but it was still being adapted.
A project called Zero Empty Spaces opened working artist studios in a former storefront in the mall's Dillard's corridor in spring 2022, with a public open house in July.
Raising Cane's opened August 5, 2025, at a new outparcel at 2700 Tyrone Boulevard North - the chain's first St. Petersburg location.
Fit2Run opened at the mall in February 2025, and Chuck's Arcade opened in June 2025.
As of early 2026, Tyrone Square has 956,000 square feet and is 84 percent full, with over 100 specialty shops, department stores, a grocery store, a movie theater, and an updated dining mix.
Tyrone Square
Shopping mall in in St. Petersburg, FL
Address: 6901 22nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33710
Opened: 1972
Developer: Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation
Owner: Simon Property Group
Floor area: 956,000 square feetClosest cities:
Seminole, FL
Largo, FL
Pinellas Park, FL
Gulfport, FL
Treasure Island, FL
St. Pete Beach, FL
Madeira Beach, FL
South Pasadena, FL
