Grand Opening of Ollie's Discount Department Store Heralds Change at Large Area Center

The much-anticipated grand opening of Ollies is happening Wednesday morning. Crowds are expected to visit in coming days, shopping and exploring the more than 20 different departments of the discount store. The new store will occupy a former Kash'n'Karry grocery store at 1340 SR 60 East that has remained vacant for more than two decades as the once-thriving center struggled to generate traffic.

Robert Connors

Ollie's has filled a 30,000 square foot space that has long stood vacant at the Orange Grove Shopping Center. The move has breathed new life into the vast shopping center.

Ollies is a national chain of more than 500 stores featuring a changing line-up of discounted merchandise ranging from furniture, flooring, books, clothing, lawn and garden, pets, patio, food, and health and beauty to toys, hardware, and electronics, and more.

The large retail outlet is breathing new life into the Orange Grove Shopping Center, one of the area's largest, and has spurred other investment there. In addition to Ollies, a new Stone Cabin Coffee and Cheesecake restaurant, The Villa Acacia Coffee Shop, and a Kids Therapy Tower location are also opening in the center this month. In constructing the Ollie's store build-out, some 5,000 square feet was carved out to create space for an additional retail store, according to Luli Cannon of RMC Property Management, which controls the center.

The Orange Grove Shopping Center was constructed in the mid-1980's and was once the premier shopping destination for area shoppers. A slow decline followed the construction of a new Walmart store, moving that anchor retailer out of the center.

Current tenants in the Orange Grove and outparcels include Harbor Freight, AnyTime Fitness, Family Dollar, Tractor Supply, LaundroMart, Pizzano's Pizza and Grinderz, Subway, Quest Diagnostics, and multiple other small businesses. There are also vacant outparcels adjacent to the center, some under separate ownership. Although most have never hosted buildings, one, a former McDonald's restaurant, is under contract, according to an official of that company.

The center is owned by out-of-state investors and managed by RMC Property Group. According to the Polk County Property Appraiser's website, the center is valued at more than $4 million dollars.

The City of Lake Wales has invested to recruit new retail stores to the city, entering into a $40,000 contract with Retail Strategies, a search firm. Calling the contract a "strategic plan for recruitment," City Manager James Slaton explained that it "absolutely compliments efforts by the city and the Lake Wales Chamber/EDC."

Robert Connors

The nearly 17-acres of the Orange Grove Shopping Center is seeing a sharp increase in traffic and rising values as several new stores have moved into the center on SR 60 East in Lake Wales.

"They will develop a strategic plan and execute it hand-in-hand with the EDC," Slaton told LakeWalesNews.net at the time the contract was initiated.

"They know the requirements of individual retailers," he said, adding that the firm, based in Fort Worth, Texas and Birmingham, Alabama, has "access to data and resources" unavailable to either local organization.