Dillard’s strong performance giving hope to Daytona’s Volusia Mall

A "Welcome Back" sign hangs over the entrance to one of the three Dillard's department stores at Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach on May 26, 2020. The mall reopened May 4 after being closed nearly two months because of the pandemic. Dillard's was one of the strongest performing department store chains in 2020.

DAYTONA BEACH — Recent news that Macy’s will close its longtime department store at Volusia Mall by the end of April has fueled speculation that the enclosed shopping center’s days could be numbered.

“Guess the Volusia Mall is going out of business,” wrote Tim Lauxman in a comment posted on The News-Journal’s Developing Daytona Beach Facebook group page.

Another reader, James Stropnik, wrote: “I predict Volusia Mall will be a ghost town in less than a year.”

Despite those dire predictions, there is a big reason for hope that rumors of Volusia Mall’s death may be premature. Make that three of them.

Namely, the astonishingly strong performance as of last of Dillard’s Inc., the Little Rock, Arkansas-based department store chain that operates not one, but three locations at Volusia Mall.