"When you have a 1,000,000-square-foot mall, that's too much retail," Kevin Hipes, director of development for Oviedo Mall Holding LLC, told ClickOrlando in April. "So we have to make it a mixed use, which is eat, sleep, work, play."
That plan is now running on a monthly schedule. Between early October and mid-December, the mall at 1700 Oviedo Mall Blvd. has a night market every second Friday, an indoor Halloween event, the 52nd Great Day in the Country, and a toy store that was announced on September 30. Almost every one of them is built to keep you there for hours. Shopping is only part of the draw. Josh Gunderson, the mall's marketing and events director, said it plainly when the toy store was announced: "We want Oviedo Mall to be a place where people actually want to spend their time."
A brewery where a brewery used to be
The clearest sign of the shift came in May. Bruder Latin Restaurant & Brewery took over the former Oviedo Brewing Co. space after a buildout of about $1.5 million and opened its first U.S. location there. It held a soft opening May 11 and a grand opening May 16. The space covers 8,789 square feet, and the beer is brewed on site, next to a menu of Latin American plates and cocktails.
The brand has a real track record. Brothers Julian and Hector Martinez of Boyacá founded Bruder in 2009 in Tunja, Colombia. It runs 10 locations there and has won more than 14 international awards, including a 2022 World Beer Awards gold medal for its Maracuya ale, a passion fruit beer. Hipes made a point of the location choice. "He could have gone to Miami. No, he came to the Oviedo Mall," he said, adding that the owner was "spending over $1 million in there."
The food court is next. Hipes plans to rename it the "Oviedo Eatery" and add beer and wine service. "Instead of going in for a 30-minute meal and coming out, you get to sit in, enjoy your time, maybe watch the Super Bowl on TV," he said. A June report still listed the beer and wine as planned, and we couldn't find any confirmation that it has launched.
Second Friday, every month
If the brewery and the food court are about making a meal last longer, the Mall Rat Market is about getting people to come back on a regular schedule. It used to be the Oviedo Night Market. Now it has a new name and monthly themes, and it runs indoors on the second Friday of each month from 5 to 9 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
The rest of 2026 looks like this:
- October 9, "The Other Side." Supernatural stories, cult classics and nostalgic horror, with alternative artists and makers set up throughout the mall.
- November 13, "Bad Luck Club." Unlucky charms, superstitions and oddities, scheduled on a Friday the 13th.
- December 11, "Wish List." Holiday shopping built around old Christmas catalogs and wish books.
The vendors change every month. The mall's page lists local artists, makers, authors, collectors, vintage sellers and small businesses but doesn't name an October lineup. Gunderson's goal is a repeat habit. "We want people to eventually hear 'second Friday' and immediately know something is happening at Oviedo Mall," he said in the September 30 announcement. "There was a time when going to the mall on a Friday night didn't really require a reason."
The season, date by date
The market is the anchor, but it isn't the only thing on the mall's calendar this fall. In order:
- October 9, 5 to 9 p.m. The first Mall Rat Market, "The Other Side."
- October 31, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mall-O-Ween, indoor trick-or-treating for kids 12 and under.
- November 13, 5 to 9 p.m. Mall Rat Market, "Bad Luck Club."
- November 14 and 15. The 52nd Great Day in the Country, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
- December 11, 5 to 9 p.m. Mall Rat Market, "Wish List."
Great Day in the Country is the oldest event on that list, and it shows that the mall's role as a community venue doesn't depend on new tenants. The GFWC Oviedo Woman's Club runs the festival with volunteers, and it's the club's largest fundraiser of the year. The money goes to local student scholarships, school and teacher grants, and community programs. The club itself started in 1906 as the Oviedo Magazine Club and took its current name in 1915. This year the arts-and-crafts, food, business and community vendors will fill the mall's outdoor event space and also line the indoor center walkway. Admission is free. Parking is less clear. The festival's visitor FAQ says it's free in the Oviedo Mall lots, but the City of Oviedo's event listing says $10, so bring a little cash in case.
Toys"R"Us isn't on the list because it doesn't have a date yet. Mall officials announced a year-round store on September 30 and said it should open in the fall, "likely early October," with the official date to come. An October 2 report still described the opening as expected, with no exact date. Store hours and opening celebrations hadn't been announced either.
Downtown runs its own fall lineup at Center Lake Park, so a full season in Oviedo means going back and forth between the two. The city has scheduled the free Viva Oviedo! Festival for October 17, Bark and Brew, a dog-friendly craft beer festival, for November 7, and the Oviedo Tree Lighting for December 3.
What's open on a night with nothing scheduled
The mall can only fill a whole evening if there are things to do on ordinary nights too. Several of the tenants that already do that have been there for a while.
District Eat & Play has a full bar, a scratch-made food menu, boutique small-ball bowling, an arcade, four escape rooms and private event rooms. Regal Oviedo Mall is still showing movies on its regular schedule. D'Amico & Sons Italian Market & Bakery has been open since its December 2023 grand opening and still lists daily hours at the mall address. With Bruder in the mix, a night with nothing on the calendar can still mean dinner, a beer brewed on site, a lane of bowling or an escape room, and a movie, all without moving the car.
The mall is also bringing in daytime traffic of a different kind. Hipes has rebranded one wing as "Medical Main Street," anchored by Orlando Orthopedic in a roughly 16,000-square-foot space he said had been empty for about 10 years. He's also recruiting a dentist, a chiropractor and a family practice. The former Sears space is still open-ended. After Crazy Hot Buys was asked to leave this spring, Hipes said three serious prospects were looking at it, and it "could be entertainment. It could be offices. Could even be another department store."
The east side is still waiting
The biggest change is the one you can't see yet. In late June, Picerne Development Corporation of Florida closed on the 15-acre former Macy's parcel. It already has site-plan approval for about 400 apartments, and it has committed to building a new mall entrance on the east side to give residents walkable access to the shops, restaurants and entertainment inside. As of the July 8 report, Picerne was expected to apply for a demolition permit within 90 days. We couldn't find any later reporting that confirms a permit was filed or that demolition has started. Hipes estimated the full timeline at "a year and a half to two years" from that point, covering permits, construction and lease-up.
A second phase is behind it. Woodfield Development Co. is under contract on a 14-acre parcel on the west side for about 325 apartments, with construction expected to start in late 2027 or early 2028, and some kind of walkway connecting it to the mall. Hipes said the delay came down to ownership. "Most people don't realize malls are not wholly owned by one entity," he said, describing five separate parties that all had to sign off on development and cross-access agreements.
That explains the order of this fall. The apartments that would bring hundreds of new neighbors within walking distance are still a year or more away. In the meantime, the mall is filling its calendar now, one second Friday at a time.
Big changes to a familiar place like Oviedo Mall can affect what nearby homes are worth, and it's hard to tell how much from the outside. At Holt Real Estate, we pair our valuation background with close attention to projects like the Macy's redevelopment, so you'll know where your home stands as the east side starts to change. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through it.
