ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — This is a story about a shopping mall makeover in St. Augustine. It's also about business and one church's way to connect with the community and the world.
The Ponce de Leon Mall fizzled out over the years. A few years ago, Anchor Faith Church bought the whole thing and the latest tenant could bring in some loyal customers.
"It’s pretty exciting, yeah," Cori Smith beamed. She and her husband, Steve, own Coconut Barrel in St. Augustine. It's a store for artisans to sell their handcrafted items.
"It’s not all handmade. 90 to 95 percent is. But we also like to support local businesses," Smith said.
In the last five years, Coconut Barrel has expanded and grown in popularity, filling a niche in the artisan market in St. Augustine. When the lease was up at the warehouse the store had been renting, Smith and her husband moved the business to the newly named Mall 2121.
It's the former Ponce de Leon shopping mall, built in 1980.
"We felt like it was a great match," Smith said.
Coconut Barrel moved into three storefronts in the mall earlier this month.
For years, the mall was on its last leg. Store after store moved out, leaving the place nearly empty.
However, Pastor Earl Glisson had a vision.
"The vision came from the Lord," he said. "I didn't want to buy a mall, but the Lord wanted us to have a mall."
Glisson and his church -- Anchor Faith – had moved into the mall's vacant movie theater to hold services in 2010. In 2021, the church bought the entire mall, including the empty Morrisons and JC Penney.
The church still meets in the one end of the mall in the old movie theater. Its school and preschool are there too. The Belk department store is still at the other end and Glisson aims to lease the middle of the mall to local businesses and share the proceeds.
"Our goal is to take the money to be able to meet the needs of our community, nation, and world," Glisson said
A portion of the tenant’s rents go toward helping people in other countries.
"We have an orphanage in India," Glisson noted. "We have girls that are being delivered out of human trafficking in China."
Some of the stores that are already open inside the mall include a hair salon and a gym. A full size restaurant and Christian book store are in the works.
Glisson said the mall is 50 percent full right now, and he expects by the end of the year it will be 70 to 100 percent full.
Churches reusing vacant buildings seems to be a trend in some cities. Glisson says it’s geographically a wise move.
"They’re in the hub. They can connect. It’s easy accessibility," he said.
Mall 2121 – named for the address on U.S. 1 – just got a feather in its cap with popular Coconut Barrel moving in.
It’s also working for Coconut Barrel which has seen a spike in sales and vendors since getting into the mall.
"It’s been a blessing. It really has," Smith said. "It's so great to see a place come back to life. We love being a part of that."
A grand re-opening for Coconut Barrel is May 6th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.