Here is a summary of the opening of Regency Square Mall on March 2, 1967. This story ran on Feb. 27, 2017, as part of the 50 Years Ago This Week column:
With shoppers backing up traffic for miles along Atlantic Boulevard and the Arlington Expressway, Regency Square Mall opened for business.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, Martin and Joanie Stein officially opened the $12 million, 50-store shopping center by removing a golden chain from the main entrance.
Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce President W. Ashley Verlander said Regency Square was “proof to everybody that Duval County is a wonderful investment.”
Mayor Lou Ritter praised the Steins’ vision and said the opening was “one of the brightest spots in the history of Jacksonville.”
County Commissioner Bob Harris drew a laugh when he told the Steins that “as of today, you become this area’s biggest taxpayers.”
One of the highlights at the opening was the Russell Stover Candy Store.
It was the second Russell Stover location in Jacksonville — the first opened in 1963 at the Roosevelt Mall shopping center.
The Singer Co. opened its fifth store in Jacksonville at Regency Square and introduced at the grand opening the company’s new color television, marking its entry into that market area.
In addition to sewing machines and televisions, the store also offered stereo phonographs, vacuum cleaners and fabrics.
The store was in the northwest corner of the mall, near Furchgott’s Department Store and Flair Fabrics.
Also, some telecommunications history was made when the first 14 coin-operated touch-tone telephones in Florida went into service at the mall.
Southern Bell District Manager John Montgomery said replacing the conventional rotary dial with 10 buttons cut the time needed to dial by about half.
He said the company hoped that someday, the new push button telephones would be connected to computers capable of transferring calls when no answer was received.
When the doors closed at 9 p.m., an estimated 25,000 people had toured the mall, one of the largest of its kind in the Southeast.
