South Mall

The South Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the United States.

This article is about the shopping mall in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For the government complex in Albany, New York, see Empire State Plaza. For the street in Cork, Ireland, see South Mall, Cork.
South Mall
South Mall, view from south
LocationSalisbury Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Address3300 Lehigh St.
Opening date1975[1]
DeveloperHess's
OwnerNicholas Park Mall LLC
No. of stores and services55
No. of anchor tenants3 (1 open, 2 vacant)
Total retail floor area405,199 sq ft (37,600 m2)[1]
No. of floors1
ParkingParking lot
Public transit access LANTA bus: 104, 210, 323
Websiteshopsouthmall.com

The mall is located on Lehigh Street, just south of Interstate 78 exit 57, near Allentown's southern border with Salisbury Township and Emmaus.

History

Hess's South, an early satellite location of the Hess's downtown Allentown department store, opened at the site of the mall in 1971.[2] Hess's built a modest enclosed mall on the north side of the department store in 1975, adding a Weis Market and several specialty shops.[2]

In 1979, the Hess's department store chain, which developed and owned the mall and operated its largest tenant, was bought by Johnstown-based mall developing firm, Crown American. This sale caused Crown American to inherit the South Mall - it would be one of only two malls that Crown American would own that was built by a different firm.[3] Crown American doubled the size of the South Mall in a 1986-1987 expansion that added a new section of enclosed mall on the southern side of Hess's South.[2] Discount retailer Jamesway opened its 100th store at the South Mall to anchor the new expansion, and celebrated the milestone with skydivers landing on the parking lot.[4] The mall expanded yet again in 1991 to add a third major anchor in the newer portion of the mall: discount drugstore Phar-Mor.[5]

The older portion of the mall on the north side of Hess's was de-malled sometime following the 1991 closure of the Rea & Derick drugstore due to its acquisition by CVS.[6] The former mall space in this area was replaced by Staples and Petco by 1996.

Jamesway closed in late 1995 as the whole chain folded during its second bankruptcy filing.[7] A year later, a majority of the Jamesway space was occupied by Stein Mart, marking Stein Mart's first Pennsylvania location.[7] The remainder of the former Jamesway was subdivided between Gold's Gym and Home & Gifts, before later becoming a Ross - Dress For Less.[8]

Weis closed its South Mall food market amid poor sales in 1999.[9] The former grocery store has since been subdivided into a strip of several stores.

Phar-Mor closed its anchor store at the South Mall in 2002 along with the remainder of the chain.[10] This was replaced by Steve & Barry's, a casualwear chain.

In 2003, mall owner Crown American was purchased by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT).[11]

Steve & Barry's went bankrupt and closed all stores in 2008.[12] The anchor space it had occupied at South Mall was leased the following year to Black Rose Antiques and Collectibles, an antiques mall that featured over 100 individual dealers selling various curios.[13]

In June 2014, PREIT sold the mall for $23.6 million to Nicholas Park Mall LLC, a company formed by 7 New York area investors led by former Macy's executive Richard Krantz.[14] This was one of more than a dozen underperforming malls that PREIT has sold since 2012 in order to focus on its most successful properties.[15]

Black Rose Antiques left the South Mall in favor of the former JCPenney anchor at the Phillipsburg Mall, with the new location opening on January 1, 2017.[16] The anchor space it previously occupied in the South Mall was thereafter subdivided, with Limerick Furniture occupying the larger share of the space in early 2017.[17] The remainder of the space was revamped to accommodate the Full Circle Training gym, which opened in early 2018.[18] Meanwhile, The Bon-Ton, the oldest and largest anchor of the South Mall closed in 2018 along with all other remaining Bon-Ton stores.[19] In 2019, Limerick Furniture closed as well, leaving the mall with just Stein Mart as a major anchor tenant.[20]

In recent years, the South Mall has shifted focus towards engaging community events including periodic flea markets and weekly summer food truck events. Nontraditional tenants, such as Cave Brewing Co. – a full-service bar with live entertainment – and the South Mall Mercantile antiques dealer, have been brought in to fill the voids left by typical mall retailers.

On August 12, 2020, it was announced that Stein Mart would be closing all stores, including the South Mall location which will leave the mall with no traditional anchor stores.[21]

Anchors

Main

Other major tenants
  • Main entrance
  • The Bon-Ton, now closed
  • Black Rose, now closed
  • Ross
  • Stein Mart, closing 2020

Former anchors

Main
  • Hess's South (1971-1994, replaced by The Bon-Ton)
  • The Bon-Ton (1994-2018, currently vacant)
  • Phar-Mor (1991-2002, replaced by Steve & Barry's)
  • Steve & Barry's (2003-2009, replaced by Black Rose Antiques & Collectibles)
  • Black Rose Antiques & Collectibles (2009-2016, replaced by Full Circle Training and Limerick Furniture)
  • Limerick Furniture & Mattress (2017-2019, currently vacant)
  • Jamesway (1986-1995, replaced by Stein Mart, Gold's Gym, and Home & Gifts)
  • Weis Markets (1975-1999, divided between Sleepy's, Blick Art, and A1 Japanese Steakhouse)

Other major tenants
gollark: Since you seem to be buying this very slowly, it might be worth waiting for navi and zen2.
gollark: I put in the CX450M, which I have. It has good reviews, is semi-modular, and is from a decent brand.
gollark: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/TwghpG
gollark: Oops, forgot RAM.
gollark: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FVwpsZI threw this together.

See also

References
  1. "South Mall Fact Sheet" (PDF). PREIT. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
  2. Holton, Ray (1986-01-21). "13-MILLION EXPANSION OF SOUTH MALL TO INCLUDE JAMESWAY, HESS'S RENOVATION". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  3. Salerno, Allison (1994-09-11). "MALL STORES HOPE BON-TON BRINGS GOOD TIMES AS IT REPLACES HESS'S". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  4. Shope, Dan (1986-11-13). "THIRD JAMESWAY OPENS IN VALLEY". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  5. Austin, Josh (2010-04-15), Phar-Mor - Allentown, PA, retrieved 2019-09-10
  6. Austin, Josh (2009-08-02), Rea & Derick - Allentown, PA (South), retrieved 2019-09-10
  7. Roach, Michelle (1996-07-09). "RETAILER STEIN MART TO OPEN IN SOUTH MALL * BETWEEN 60 AND 70 JOBS WILL BE BROUGHT TO THE SALISBURY SITE". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  8. "Ross Dress for Less opens new store at South Mall". The Morning Call. 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  9. Todd, Susan (1999-10-14). "WEIS MARKETS WILL CLOSE SOUTH MALL SITE * OLDER STORE DIDN'T FIT COMPANY'S NEW MODEL OF LARGER PROPERTIES". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  10. Karp, Gregory (2002-07-20). "Phar-Mor holds closing sales ** Prescription list at South Mall store is sold to CVS pharmacy". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  11. Blumenau, Kurt (2003-11-12). "Crown American is bought by PREIT ** The $1.2 billion deal brings many area malls under one ownership". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  12. Staff, Express-Times (2008-11-26). "Steve & Barry's going out of business". lehighvalleylive.com. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  13. Richardson, Tyrone (2009-11-15). "Bringing back a legendary taco". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  14. Kennedy, Sam (June 29, 2014). "South Mall's new owner revealed". The Morning Call. Allentown, PA. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  15. Mathis, Joel (2016-03-30). "PREIT Sells Off "Lower Productivity" Malls". Philly Mag.
  16. "Black Rose Antiques And Collectibles Opens A Location In Phillipsburg, N.J. | Antiques & Auction News". antiquesandauctionnews.net. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  17. Harris, Jon (2017-11-17). "South Mall, under new ownership, on an 'upward path'". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  18. Kneller, Ryan (2017-12-29). "Retail Watch: Resolve to get fit at Full Circle Training at South Mall". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  19. Harris, Jon (2018-04-30). "Life without Bon-Ton: Disaster or opportunity for Lehigh Valley malls?". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  20. Kneller, Ryan (2019-04-29). "Limerick Furniture to join string of recent store closures at South Mall". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  21. Rattner, Lauren Thomas,Nate (2020-08-13). "Bankrupted Stein Mart is closing all of its stores. Here's a map of where they are". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
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