Just returned from shopping at Tampa’s International Mall and saw visitors from Asia and Europe already Christmas shopping at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Apple, Diesel, Montblanc, Hugo Bass, Louis Vuitton and more.

As impressive as this mall is it doesn’t rank in the top five malls in Florida.  When it comes to sales in dollars per square feet, Florida has four of the nation’s most profitable malls.  The Bal Harbour Shops just north of Miami Beach might be fifty years old but the gloriously landscaped mall (see picture) has annual sales of $3,010 per square foot, the highest mall figure in the nation.  They just added a 6,400 square-foot Hillstone Restaurant.

Down the road is the Aventura Mall, the second largest in the nation, and at $1,500 in sales per square foot Number 6 in profitability.  Aventura is adding a new 241,000 square foot retail and another seven-level parking garage.

In Orlando The Mall at Millenia is 7th with $1,400 in sales per square feet.  This 1.2 million square foot luxury mall with its huge LED screens atop 35-foot masts remind me of a giant football stadium filled with clothing and accessories.

When people talk “outlet mall in Florida”, it often means the Orlando Premium Outlets, ranked 8th at $1,385 sales per square foot.  The monster outlet mall is just two miles away from Disney World so it gets a good chunk of the 48 million people who vacation here.

The mall business is highly competitive in Florida’s larger towns and the new and bigger malls with their restaurant avenues are closing down the outdated malls.