Shopping in Spring Hill

The Mall That Isn't a Mall

Start at Towne Square Mall, which sits at 3021 Commercial Way and is less a traditional mall than a collection of businesses that happen to share a roof and a parking lot. It rates 3.7 from 787 reviews, which is about right for a place that has seen better decades and doesn't care. The anchor here is the Spring Hill Farmers Market, also at 3021 Commercial Way, rated 4.5 from 229 reviews. It is a farmers market inside a mall, which is either the best or worst of both worlds depending on how you feel about air conditioning with your produce. We lean toward best.

The Commercial Way Corridor

Commercial Way is the spine of Spring Hill, and it is where most of the shopping happens. ABC Fine Wine & Spirits at 4120 Commercial Way pulls a 4.6 from 761 reviews, which means people here take their beverage shopping seriously. It is a Florida chain, but the review count suggests it is the neighborhood's go-to.

Down the road, Ford Spring Hill at 3335 Commercial Way is technically a car dealership, but it rates 4.4 from 1265 reviews, making it one of the most-reviewed businesses in town. That is a lot of people who felt strongly enough about buying a car to write about it. In a town of 118,814 people, that is roughly one review for every 94 residents.

Phoenix Gold and Silver Pawn at 136 Commercial Way has a 4.9 rating from 170 reviews, which is the kind of score that makes you wonder if they are selling good luck or just good prices. Pawn shops do not usually get 4.9. This one did.

The Edges of Town

Tuesday Morning at 1377 Wendy Ct is a discount home goods store with a 4.3 from 281 reviews. It is in a strip center that looks like every other strip center in Florida, but the rating suggests the stock rotates enough to keep people coming back.

U.S. 41 Book Store at 17244 US-41 has a 4.6 from 128 reviews. It is a used bookstore on a highway, which is a dying breed, and the rating suggests it is being supported by people who know what they have.

El Frezco Supermarket at 11116 Libby Rd rates 4.9 from 124 reviews. It is a supermarket, and it is rated nearly perfectly. That is not normal. That is a store that knows its customers by name, or at least knows what they want on the shelves.

Shipping of Weeki Wachee Inc. at 6252 Commercial Way rates 4.3 from 122 reviews. It is a shipping store, which is the most utilitarian thing on this list, and it is rated fine. Not everything needs to be a destination.

The Context

Spring Hill was built in 1967 as a planned development by the Deltona Corporation and the Mackle Brothers. The developers wanted to call it Spring Lake, but the name was taken, so they settled on Spring Hill. The area first appeared on county maps in 1856, but the community itself is a mid-century product sold by the acre. It still reads as one.

The median home value is $248,400. The median gross rent is $1,301. The median household income is $66,557. The unemployment rate is 6.1 percent. Only 19.7 percent of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The median age is 43.3. There are 48,593 housing units, and 3,608 of them are vacant. Only 1,264 are held for seasonal or recreational use, which means most people here actually live here.

This is not a tourist town, even though Weeki Wachee Springs sits on the doorstep with its live mermaid show running since the 1940s and Buccaneer Bay, Florida's only spring-fed water park. The dinosaur-shaped Harold's Garage and the pink apatosaurus on US 19 are roadside relics, and the Spring Hill waterfall at US 19 and Spring Hill Drive is the development's original gateway feature. The Nature Coast Botanical Gardens are here too.

But the shopping is for the people who stay. It is for the 118,814 who live here, not the ones passing through to see mermaids. The stores are practical. The ratings are honest. And the mall that isn't quite a mall still holds a farmers market that people clearly like.

Spring Hill did not get the name it wanted. It got a better one, and the shopping reflects that: unpretentious, useful, and rated by the people who actually show up.