Southgate Shopping Center is a little "strip mall" located in South Lakeland. It stands out from…read moremost, because of it's lovely vintage arch still standing from when the little mall was first built in 1957. Interestingly enough, to many locals, it's biggest claim to fame is a cameo in the locally filmed 1990 movie "Edward Scissorhands" (you can see the arch leg from the beauty salon scene). Right now it holds a nice variety of stores: Publix, Office Depot, Hallmark, Babe's Shoes & Apparel, Beall's Outlet (just opened last month), Tuesday Morning, and Crowder Brothers Ace Hardware. There are a few empty stores, but it's not noticeable. There is also a stand alone Five Guys Burgers and a Starbucks in the front of the parking lot. The parking lot is quite large and maintained nicely.

Palm Center is most easily passed by and ignored. There are tons of strip mall/ centers in Lakeland…read morelike mostly any city, so this one doesn't particularly stick out upon first glance. But recently I've found myself visiting Palm Center a lot more often. It's actually got quite a lot going for it. At this strip you can get in a workout (Plant Fitness), eat some sushi or sandwiches (New Moon Sushi & Subway), get car essentials (NAPA), office & house essentials (Staples & Big Lots), get your haircut (Lakeland Barber), go to church (Access Church), or get your alcohol restock (ABC Liquors). You can also get a nice pre or post workout, church or shopping juice or smoothie from Juice Box, go shopping at the Christian Bookstore, get your taxes taken care of at H&R Block, or hit up the consignment store. Oh, and there's a Cici's Pizza if you don't want sushi or a sub. I still haven't named all of the businesses in this complex, but you can see my point right? The only unfortunate thing is that despite the range of Palm Center, it's really not well maintained. A lot of it seems to be nearly falling apart and dirty especially on the outside. Thus, why the strip is also so easily passed by. It's not nice on the outside, so many know that equates to being looked over a lot. But don't! Because Palm Center has much to offer!

Highland City Town Center has so much to offer! It's much bigger than you'd realize just driving by…read moreit on 98, and you kind of have to literally drive through it to see all that is there. There's one main bigger building where the Publix is, a Dairy Queen and some other restaurants as well as a physical therapy place and other things. Then there are probably about 5-6 other sub buildings with even more stuff. Something I really like about this plaza is the food offerings. Hibachi Express is a great hibachi/ sushi place with reasonable prices, Savory Thai has splendid thai food, and Gators dockside has an awesome all you can eat wings night. There are more fast food options as well, like Sonic and Subway (I guess it's fast?). There's a bar, a car wash, a bank/ credit union, Advance Auto Parts and Mavis, a post office, a dentist and more. It really has so much!

The Crystal Lake Plaza is a medium-sized strip mall that is jammed with-packed with a wide variety…read moreof businesses. And when I say wide variety, I'm talking completely across the spectrum. I stop here every so often to visit Shine Bright Nutrition, a cure nutrition place tucked into the corner where you can get energy teas and protein shakes. As far as food goes, the Egg Factory is a pretty popular breakfast place, Crazy by Rasel is a drive through convenience shop at the very end of the plaza, and there's even an Indian grocery shop you can stop by. There's a pawn shop on the opposite end from the drive thru, a phone carrier store, an insurance company, a new store that I believe mostly sells legos and/or toys, and a boutique that I'm definitely going to check out at some point. There's even more than this but just to rattle off a few offerings. One downside is the plaza is definitely not taken care of. The individual businesses keep their units clean and nice, but from the outside the plaza as a whole looks dirty and a bit run down. The parking lot can also be a little chaotic and unorganized at times.

Great location directly off the Polk Parkway at the exit for Florida Avenue, there is an easy…read moreentrance from the service road. Interestingly, the service road is bidirectional so you'll be making a left when you depart in order to get back to the highway entrance. The shopping mall has an outer C shape and then an inner one. The mall contains a Ross, Ulta Beauty, Marshalls, Stein Mart, Party City, Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree. We were here for dinner at Il Forno, who have a dedicated area roped off for curbside ordering and pickup. There is also Texas Roadhouse, Keke's Breakfast Cafe and some fast food. The shopping center appears to be well lit and while there are some taller trees, they do not excessively block visibility of the parking areas. The speed bumps tend to keep the traffic going slower. Of course, always be aware of your surroundings and look for people approaching you. [Review 13351 overall, 669 of 2020.]