Nearly 5,000 parking spaces filled within hours on the day St. Johns Town Center opened 20 years ago, prompting the need for overflow parking by 11 a.m., according to a Times-Union article from its March 20, 2005, opening day.

Anyone who has been to Town Center around the holidays can attest to the shopping center’s persistent popularity in the community.

That Times-Union article likened the scene to a “circus” — both because there were literal clowns, jugglers, magicians and face painters at the grand opening and because of how busy the outdoor mall was.

Twenty years later, clowns might not be roaming the sidewalks anymore, but St. Johns Town Center is busier than ever.

Michael Corrigan, president and CEO of Visit Jacksonville, compared its popularity not to the circus but to the Zoo, noting Town Center “has become part of Jacksonville’s culture and is a destination.”

St. Johns Town Center is an “outdoor lifestyle mall [that] is home to over 175 of the hottest stores,” including Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Apple and Pottery Barn. It also features luxury shops, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Tiffany & Co.

It’s located in Jacksonville’s Southside neighborhood, between downtown and the beaches, and is easily accessible by Interstate 95, Interstate 295 and J. Turner Butler Boulevard.

Corrigan said Visit Jax looks “forward to celebrating the 20 years of the Town Center” and will be recognizing this milestone online as well.

“The Town Center changed shopping in Jacksonville and helped start the shift from large, indoor malls to outdoor shopping centers,” Corrigan said. “It has made Jacksonville a shopping destination. It has brought many new brands that never considered stores in Jacksonville into this market.”

St. Johns Town Center has been known to experience a lot of foot traffic, particularly around the holidays. It’s also a draw for people outside of the Jacksonville area.

“From our research, we know the Town Center is the most visited attraction in Jacksonville with visitation numbers increasing year over year for many years with nearly two million visitors in 2024,” Corrigan said. “The average visitor spends almost two hours there.”

As the Town Center rings in 20 years, its impact is clear.

“We see the Town Center as a very valuable part of our area for attracting tourists from other areas of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and more,” Corrigan said, “whether they’re coming for multiple days or a day trip.”

Corrigan said nearly 21% of all visitors to Jacksonville visited the St. Johns Town Center in 2022, and 53.5% of the center’s visitors were from out of state.

“The Southside has blown up over the last 10 years, and that can be directly attributed to the St. Johns Town Center and its success,” he said. “It offers a wide variety of things to do, places to shop and places to eat and that appeals to a bigger audience.”

St. Johns Town Center wouldn’t be what it is if not for portions of the land that came from a family of prominent Jacksonville developers, the Skinners, who primarily own and develop in the Southside area.

“If there was no Town Center, would we see the development along Deerwood Park and Gate Parkway that we have seen?” Corrigan questioned to emphasize the outdoor mall’s impact on the community’s landscape.

Development at St. Johns Town Center has spurned additional development in the area, including Regency, which recently announced plans for dining and retail options at Seven Pines , another Skinner property nearby.

Corrigan added that St. Johns Town Center is “bigger than those historic neighborhoods,” such as Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill or Springfield.

“The Town Center offers a consistent experience,” he said. “It’s home to stores like DSW, Nordstrom and Apple that aren’t found anywhere else in our region. If you need to go to those stores, the Town Center is where you go.”

Some of the highlights of the Town Center's openings over the last few years included shops like Aritzia and Chanel and destination restaurants like Sugar Factory and Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar . Another prominent change for St. Johns Town Center shopping came with the addition of Gucci and the loss of Michael Kors in 2023 .

Although the wait at Cheesecake Factory — which was two hours on opening day, as reported by the Times-Union — isn’t as long as it was 20 years ago, it’s clear that St. Johns Town Center remains one of Jacksonville’s busiest and most popular attractions.