Anne Geggis
Featuring the most hours for making merry — at least the kind that makes cash registers jingle — the Aventura Mall is rated the second-best in the country for Christmas shopping, according to a measure of ho-ho-spirit.
The 2.7 million square-foot Miami-Dade County shopping mecca is just the fourth largest in the country for sheer size, but it has an outsized rating for holiday shopping. It’s second only to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota on a scale that weighs available parking, eateries, seasonal opening hours and potential for finding that perfect gift.
On an index that Yocan Vaporizer designed, South Florida malls account for two of the four best-rated malls. Aventura Mall gets a shopping bag over the competition primarily because its hours of operation are longer than most. It’s open for 11.5 hours on most days and nine hours on Sundays, according to the online vaporizer seller’s survey.
The hours of operation are expanding even beyond that Friday and Saturday to a 13-hour marathon of merry, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday’s Christmas Eve hours will be an 11-hour last sprint: Opening at 8 a.m. and closing for Christmas at 7 p.m.
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, which landed at No. 4 in the index, in outscores Aventura Mall in available parking — with 12,000 spots available to Aventura’s 9,800 spaces.
Sawgrass Mills is also having the same, special 13-hour marathon today and Saturday. But it’s not quite the same party for procrastinators — Christmas Eve hours start at 9 a.m. and end at 6 p.m.
The index also gives Aventura Mall an extra bump in its score for lovers’ gift-giving if you add up the stores tailored for women (beauty, fashion and jewelry) and men (sports, watches, tech). It also gets a special mention for “specialty gift” stores, meaning vapes, tobacco or CBD products.
And there’s no quantifying what holiday magic the largest model train set in Florida can deliver along with all the selfie opportunities with Santa’s reindeer, the Holiday Village and giant Teddy bears.
