People of Tampa Bay...

[Eastern Roamer]

Originally Posted by ferret111

Pinellas has three traditional indoor shopping malls:
Countryside (Clearwater)
Tyrone Square (St. Pete)
and the ailing Seminole Mall (Seminole)

Hillsborough has five:
International (Tampa)
Westshore (Tampa)
University Square (Tampa)
Brandon (Brandon)
Citrus Park (Citrus Park)

Tampa definitely has better malls. (I tend to hate all shopping malls, but they have their place.) I've never been to the Seminole Mall, but Tyrone Square and Coutryside hardly compare to Westshore and International Plaza. I think even University Mall (by USF Tampa, a.k.a. "ghetto mall") might be better than the Pinellas malls.

[CMor2Day]

I concur... the malls are much better in Tampa. If you like outlet malls and don't mind a 40 min drive .. Ellenton (south on I 75) is a popular one. It's so big, international tour groups even stop there!

[crazynip]

It wasnt that long ago that Pinellas County had more malls than Hillsborough County. Say, until the mid 1990's.

Tyrone Mall
Crossroads Mall
Clearwater Mall
Countryside Mall
Sunshine Mall
Seminole Mall (this can barely be considered a mall)
Pinellas Park Mall (later called Parkside Mall I think)

Plus you had a bunch of stand-alone big stores like:
The huge Montgomery Wards on 34th street near Central Ave
The huge Maas Brothers in downtown St. Pete, Maas in downtown Clearwater.
All that stuff on Central Ave until the riots.

Tampa had:
East Lake Square
University Mall
Westshore Mall
Tampa Bay Center

That's it, except there was a Maas Bros in downtown Tampa too, but it was a dump and virtually dead since the 70's. I think it closed for good in the mid 80's, well before the one in downtown St. Pete.

[ferret111]

Don't forget the old outlet mall at 19 and Roosevelt in Largo and when St. Pete's Gateway Mall was enclosed. Tampa also had Floriland Mall on Florida at Busch. The Maas Brothers stores in Downtown Tampa and Downtown Clearwater lasted right up until the conversion to Burdines in 1991. The Clearwater building is still there.

[IAm_FloridaBorn]

I live in Orlando. I have had enough of outlet malls. I really get tired of them because they are BORING AND HUMID!

[veggienut]

Lots of good info posted I'll be going to the Tampa area soon and it looks like a lot of things to do and see

[Angler]

Originally Posted by IAm_FloridaBorn

Which side of the Bridge do yall residents like better? As far as

• Entertainment
• Living
• Traffic
• Public Parks
• Things To Do Outside

I'm interested in how people over there feel about both sides of the bridge.

I live in St. Pete and work in Tampa

Entertainment- Both have pluses. Downtown St. Pete is far better than Ybor and Channelside IMO. It's about the concetration. you have dozens of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs within a few blocks. Both have great concert venues from Janus and the State Theatre in St. Pete to The Ritz in Tampa, from Ruth Eckerd in CLW to TBPAC in TPA.

Tampa has a wider selection of restaurants, though both suffer from too many chains!

Traffic in Tampa sucks, Traffic going East to West in central PInellas sucks.

Parks- Tampa

Beaches- Pinellas

Malls- Tampa

Living- I love living in St. Pete

and the most imporant

Fishing- Pinellas hands down. Better flats, better access to gulf,

[Angler]

Originally Posted by Eastern Roamer

I think even University Mall (by USF Tampa, a.k.a. "ghetto mall") might be better than the Pinellas malls.

HUH?

Tyrone can't compare to Int or Westshore, but it's full of stores and people, both of which University lacks.