Then…and Now

Then: The Ocala Shopping Center is shown in 1965. The strip mall at 1739 E. Silver Springs Blvd. went up in 1962 was home to a Publix supermarket and a Woolworth’s store. The Publix closed in the 1980s and the Woolworth’s closed in the 1990s.

Now: The center remains busy, here seen on Aug. 16, with Staples taking over the former Publix location. The former Woolworth’s location was divided and is now home to a Play It Again Sports and O’Reilly Auto Parts. In the 1990s, the shopping center built a new annex to the east. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]