Fifth and Alton

My favorite store in this place is Pet Co, but here you will also find a Publix, a Best Buy (the only one in Miami Beach, if I am not mistaken), a Ross and a Tj Maxx. There used to be a Staple as well, but they closed it down.

You get 2 hours of free parking, which is nice. But, if you are staying in South Beach, is easy to get here by bus or bike.

The elevators can be a bit confusing for first timers, but if you follow the signs you will get the hang of it.

Worth the visit if you are staying in the area.

BEWARE! 2 hours "free" parking applies only if you exit the garage before the 2 hours expire. If you exit after 2 hours they don't give you the discount for the first 2 hours. I spent a lot of money in Publix and Ross, but I was there for more than two hours (mostly because I spent half of this time in lines in both stores). At the exit they made me pay full price for 3 hours parking, instead of giving me the first two hours free, like Publix in Brickell or Trader Joe's do. I had all the receipts. Ridiculous! I was supposed to pay only for the 3rd hour, not for 3 full hours, because I'm a buyer there, not just parked and left. I know how this system works everywhere. This garage is a rip off. So, if you are planning to spend a lot of time shopping at this location you need to make sure to exit the garage every 2 hours and re-enter again.

This is probably the most poorly designed mall I've ever been to lol. There's stores on the street level then parking on top of the street level stores then a floor of two stores on top of that parking floor. It's odd. Just odd. It's impossible to access the stores.

An unexpected shopping mall, right when you cross the MacArthur Causeway into South Beach. Decent parking garage and the bonus here is that it's free if you're out in less than two hours. And you're not going to find parking anywhere nearby - it's all residential. Some of the shops will validate your parking. So there's that too.

You can do pretty well with your shopping here - Publix, Staples, Best Buy and even a Petco. Stop by the Brooklyn Water Bagel Co for a snack.

This has to be the worst vertical mall I've been to - if you park inside you still have to take elevators to get to Publix and half the time one is out of order. Getting to a store like Best Buy, TJ Maxx, or Total Wine, requires waiting endlessly for an elevator or walking up staircases that seemingly have become way stations for homeless. Since it opened this mall is not maintained very well and seems constantly filled with trash and is generally just dirty. I'm not rating the stores, just what passes as the mall itself, it's beyond terrible.

Absolutely horrible experience. Every elevator was out of order. Spent an hour trying to find tj maxx and it was a mess with no employees when we finally found it. What a miserable waste of time during my very short vacation.

It certainly would have been convenient to have this shopping center around when I actually lived on West Avenue. But it still proved to convenient to me when I was on my way home from South Beach and needed cat food (PetCo) and some electrolytes (Vitamin Shoppe).

Compared to other local multi-level shopping centers, parking in this building was a breeze. The signs (if you're the type that looks for signage) were easy to read and quickly direct you to the appropriate place to park depending on which store you are visiting. Most important, I didn't feel like I had to go up some deathy-defying spiral in order to park in the building.

Another plus is that the building offers up to 2 hours of free parking. I didn't bother to check the rates because this girl doesn't spend more than 2 hours shopping anywhere.

With Publix, Best Buy, PetCo and the Vitamin Shoppe, free parking and a location right off the causeway, this place is going to be a convenient place close to downtown to stock up on certain items.

As a resident of the Flamingo Park neighborhood, I was pre-disposed to detest the "mall" that became The Shops at Fifth & Alton. But after several years of frequenting its establishments, I can say it's pretty handy to have only a few blocks from home.

Whether you need to get food for yourself or your pet, a new HDTV, discounted designer duds, or some fro-yo, The Shops at Fifth & Alton has got you covered. And with 2 hours of free parking, you can totally get all your errands done without shelling out a dime to park your car.

So why only 3 stars? Because the parking garage is a nightmare. No one understands that there are often 2 lanes to enter and 2 lanes to exit. No one understands that there's a four-way stop at the top of the entrance ramp, and that you should observe that (meaning come to a complete stop, and if someone was there before you, they have the right of way). Aside from that, parking on level 2 on the Publix side involves taking your life into your hands. If that's where you're headed, consider parking up a level or in a different area, and save yourself a headache.

And aside from the problems entering and exiting the garage, what's the deal with having to push a separate button to call each elevator on the Publix side? Seriously? That's just annoying.

In any event, I'm grateful to have The Shops at Fifth & Alton in my neighborhood, but even more grateful that I can walk there when I feel like it.

Two stars for the location and free parking under 2 hours. The reason why I am leaving comment is solely for the old/not so fresh produce. I bought raspberries and blueberries and both had mold on them! So gross! I guess I'm going to have to stick to Whole Foods.

Please ignore the old reviews of this shopping center while it was being built. This is the best place for all locals and tourists to find a big Publix, TJMaxx, Ross, Total Wine, Petco, and yes we need the Best Buy. There is plenty of free two hour parking and bus stops for everyone, We need Staples to come back, plus, maybe Winn Dixie, Office Depot, Home Depot, a Target or KMart or WalMart, but business people don't get it. We NEED moderate price stores like these for locals and tourists in South Beach who can't afford Bal Harbour or Lincoln Road, because locals pay enough money for rent. This land was an empty field for years, an eyesore coming off the Causeway. Now it is an anchor location to bring jobs, people and $$$ to South Beach!