The Mall at University Town Center

Category:	Shopping Mall
Address:	140 University Town Center Dr, Sarasota, FL 34243, USA
Phone:	+1 941-552-7000
Site:	mallatutc.com
Rating:	4.3
Working:	10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 11AM–6PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 7

Vee Tee

Its a clean mall, but your typical suburbia mall bright, slick and no soul, they could have designed it with a little more personality to reflect the artsy cultural beachy vibe of Sarasota but its particularly soulless without character. The play area is nice but I found it very cramped, maybe because it was overly crowded all the moms want to check it out, the shops are mostly high end catering to the rich, I think it should have included some more down to earth shops to appeal to the families and the masses, for example, an IKEA shop, boutiques and shops for young women at reasonable prices, the demographics of the shops are aimed towards the 50-70 year old upper class--Saks, Stuart Weitzmann, Clark, fancy porcelain plates shops to name a few. Macys is okay only when there are sales.There were only 6 childrens stores and mostly high end, $150 for a baby outfit--I need everyday tee-shirts and shorts! Maybe add a moviehouse. Maybe an arcade to appeal to kids. Not a whole lot to offer for families. I would have added something to appeal for a wide range. Maybe they could have had a middle area for events. Its the kind of mall if you want to escape the heat and walk around but nothing really practical. Maybe add a grocery shop like they do with Target, a post office, more kiddie shops with reasonable prices, a big toy store like FAO Schwartz. The aisles were a bit crowded as well. If youre hungry, lots of high scale restaurants but little to offer for families on a budget. But since Sarasota is a rich city itll slowly weed out people who are not interested in it til you see the clientele it truly caters to, you can tell there was no family oriented input that went into the shops renting here. The color palette is off-white bordering on bland, maybe they could have injected more Florida color like bright yellow, light pastel orange something to make it look like a distinctive Florida place, like the Ringling. But its oookaaay.

Walt Augustinowicz

Dont bother going here if you might want a bite to eat while shopping. We made that mistake. No food court. They have a Cheesecake Factory and Seasons 52 but plan on saving 2 hours of your shopping time to wait for a seat for overpriced food. Only other options are scattered. There is an Aunties Annies with a huge line and no seating and a Mandarin Express with not enough seating. We shared a table there with a mall employee who said it is rough for them because of no food choices. They dont have time or money for Cheesecake factory. They cant even go out because it takes 20 minutes just to get across the road to the nearby shopping center due to poor traffic configurations and heavy use of multiple rotaries that slow down drivers and are a hair raising experience to say the least. Sarasota Square mall seems to be a much better choice nearby. It is a shame because it could have been so much better with better planning. I hate to think how the traffic and parking will be when they build the theaters next door if they cant even handle the current load. Hopefully they can fix the food situation in the future.

Michael G

This is a very nice addition to the Sarasota shopping scene. If you havent been to this mall yet, I would describe it as a mix between Mall at Millenia in Orlando and International Plaza & Bay Street in Tampa. Of course, because as of writing this the mall is less than a week old, the mall is practically spotless and the landscaping is very nice too (I would hope so!). Though they dont have a food court, I feel that they do have a sufficient amount of places to get food spread throughout the mall, but the issue is especially because this mall is overly crowded because it just opened, there is huge lines at almost every food place, especially Cold Stone Creamery and Auntie Annes. Though the parking lot was pretty much completely full, it didnt take us long to find a parking space because there was a constant flow of people leaving and entering. Of course my favorite store there was the Apple Store. Its located right across from Saks Fifth Avenue. Overall, this is a good, upscale mall and which I do plan to return to someday.

Gm H

Terrible customer service throughout the entire mall. The employees in the stores are very rude and unwilling to help. I walked up to two female employees in Dillards to get help with something and they were having a personal conversation. Instead of stopping, they glanced at me standing there, finished up their conversation, and then asked me if I needed something. No, I was just fascinated by your conversation.... By that point I was so shocked that I walked out and left. In the POLO section of Dillards some woman was mocking me for taking a photo of a sweater. The employee literally scoffed at me and then said, "Im pretty sure that isnt going to look the same in the photo." Really? I hadnt even asked her for help or her opinion! She offered that at no cost, WHY? This mall needs better customer service teams to train people properly. The entire mall operates this way and the environment is very cold natured.

Heather Williams

The mall is the largest in Sarasota County, and has the most varied stores, with one end geared more toward families and teens, and the other end being more high-end, with a Saks 5th Ave, The Art of Shaving, Anthropologie, Calypso St Barths, Stuart Weitzman, Michael Kors, and the like. In the middle ground, theres a Lush, Papyrus (card store), and a large Victorias Secret, among many others. The mall is airy, bright, clean, and has ample security inside and out. The restaurants are amazing. Capital Grille is incredible, Brio is always tasty, and Seasons 52 is nice for lunch and dinner; although more expensive, I never worry about food poisoning at these places, and its nice to escape the mall atmosphere and sit down for a martini. The seasonal displays have thus far been in good taste, including local performers, and during Christmas, the skylights are lit in green and red.

yurchat

I expected a lot more out of the mall. Overall it feels very small, the main walkways seem narrow and it feels like squeezed a 2 story mall into a one story building the second floor has a very low ceiling. The mall looks very bland and basic. I dont buy the whole "we wanted to let the retail stores shine" bit. They built a cheap mall and put fancy stores in it. The restaurant thing is also very odd. You have the choice of Cheesecake Factory, Seasons 52, Kona Grill an expensive burger place and a Capital Grill. If you dont want to spend 2 hours eating your choice is pretzels, starbucks or get in your car and leave. Isnt the whole idea of a mall to keep people from leaving and spending more money in the mall. The Cheesecake Factory was nice. Overall unless I need something from this mall I wouldnt go out of my way to go.

Emmanuel Cruz

It descent sized but i really dislike this mall. The traffic is so bad getting here and its even worse when finding a parking. The stores are too high end like more than Milliana or International Plaza. The mall is losing retailers to and is losing things little by little and its a new mall. The stores have the most terrible sales i have seen in my life. If your rich and have the time you can come. There is no food court yet there is some expensive restaurants that are ridiculously priced for what you get. The people working here were a bit rude to me (like my experience at Milliana) when i simply asked,"excuse me where is the food court?" The woman literally stared at me and said,"go find it yourself!" in the most rude tone ever. Not coming back and i advise you dont either.