The Shoppes at Trexler

The Shoppes at Trexler (formerly Trexler Mall) is an open-air shopping center and former enclosed community shopping mall in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, United States. The mall used to serve the western suburbs of Allentown, such as Trexlertown.

The Shoppes at Trexler
LocationTrexlertown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40.5499°N 75.5923°W / 40.5499; -75.5923
Opening date1973
ManagementCedar Realty Trust
OwnerCedar Realty Trust
No. of stores and services21
Total retail floor area337,297 sq ft (31,335.9 m2)
No. of floors1

History

The Trexler Mall opened in 1973, and was not immediately successful due to it being built before the surrounding suburbs had developed sufficiently, though as time went on the mall became fairly popular and successful.[1][2] Its original anchors were a Grant City discount store, a Lane department store, and an A&P Food Market.[3][4][5] Just three years after opening, Grant City closed as part of the W.T. Grant company's bankruptcy liquidation in 1976.[6] The former Grant City was then leased to Hess's Department Stores of Allentown. Business in the mall was hurt in 1985 due to a weeks-long strike by Laneco employees.[7] The next major change occurred in 1988, when A&P switched banners into a Super Fresh grocery store. Super Fresh later closed in 1993 due to "extremely poor sales" that were attributed to competition from a much newer and larger Redner's Warehouse Market that had opened down the street in 1990.[8] In 1994, what remained of the Hess's department store chain was sold off. Hess's trademarks and most of its remaining stores, including the Trexler Mall location, were purchased by The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc of York, PA and were rebranded with the Bon-Ton name in 1995.[9][10] By 1995, the Lane department store at Trexler Mall had closed, leaving Bon-Ton as the only anchor tenant.[1] That same year, however, Giant food stores signed a 20-year lease and began demolishing the former Super Fresh store; a brand new Giant supermarket opened at the site in 1996.[1] The former site of Lane became home to a flea market for some time, then by 2002 it had been leased out to the Health Center at Trexlertown, which is part of the Lehigh Valley Health Network.[2]

In 2002, the owners of the mall sought approval from local officials to redevelop much of the mall interior to make way for a new Kohl's department store, with a lawyer for the mall owners declaring "We're going through, as the professionals like to say, the de-malling of the Trexler Mall".[2] Over the course of the next year, the Kohl's opened and the remainder of the mall was converted into a strictly open-air strip mall called The Shoppes at Trexler. In 2011, Giant supermarket left the Shoppes at Trexler to open a new facility adjacent to the former mall.[5] Marshalls opened in the former Giant in 2012, though the space was later subdivided so that half would remain Marshalls while the other half became HomeGoods. On January 31, 2018, it was announced that The Bon-Ton would be closing as part of a plan to close 42 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2018.[11] Until it was repainted in early 2018, a water tower behind the plaza remained painted with the words "Trexler Mall" despite the fact that the mall had been defunct for about 15 years prior.[12]

Trivia
  • The Trexler Mall had a unique L-shape; the enclosed mall spanned between the original anchors Grant City and Laneco, while a section of outdoor strip mall connected Grant City to A&P at an irregular angle.
  • The former mall apparently has three different names. While the pylon sign for the plaza refers to it as "The Shoppes at Trexler", the water tower behind the mall that formerly read "Trexler Mall" was repainted in 2018 and now reads "The Shops at Trexlertown".[12] Meanwhile, the owners of the property, Cedar Realty Trust, continue to list the property as the "Trexler Mall" on their portfolio.[13]
  • Laneco, a local chain of stores in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, typically operated stores that functioned as a combination of both a department store and a food market. However, the Lane department store at the Trexler Mall was a rare instance of a Laneco store that lacked a food market, likely due to the presence of A&P at the same mall.[4]
  • The Trexler Mall Coin Laundry, currently located in the rear of the shopping center, has been a tenant in the mall since 1981.
  • The Trexler Mall was one of only two malls in the Lehigh Valley area that permitted smoking inside by 1995; the other was the Richland Mall of Quakertown.[1] Coincidentally, the Richland Mall has also since been converted to a strictly open-air shopping plaza.
gollark: No it doesn't.
gollark: There will probably always be scarce things.
gollark: You do realise, though, that even with free *material goods*, you do still need, say, spaceship designers? Material scarcity and general scarcity are separate.
gollark: Yes it does.
gollark: Some episodes later... "We need X spare part for the spaceship!"

References
  1. Salerno, Allison (1995-03-05). "'TIME IS THE ENEMY' FOR AILING TREXLER MALL". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  2. Millman, Christian (2002-09-10). "Kohl's eyes Trexler Mall store ** Lower Macungie planners will be asked to approve expansion, renovation". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  3. Josh (2008-08-13), Grant City/ Hess's/ Bon-Ton - Trexlertown, PA, retrieved 2019-07-11
  4. Josh (2008-08-13), Lane - Trexlertown, PA, retrieved 2019-07-11
  5. Josh (2012-01-09), Giant - Trexlertown, PA, retrieved 2019-07-11
  6. Barmash, Isadore (1976-02-13). "Judge Signs Order to Liquidate Grant Company Within 60 Days". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  7. Lowry, Tom (1985-04-19). "SMALL STORES HURT BY RIPPLES FROM LANECO STRIKE". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  8. Walker, Constance (1993-08-27). "TREXLER MALL SUPER FRESH IS CLOSING". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  9. Salerno, Allison (1994-09-23). "HESS'S SALE MIGHT SPEED UP; POTTSTOWN STORE WILL CLOSE". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  10. Salerno, Allison (1994-08-02). "HESS'S TO BE SOLD - DEAL TO SPLIT, SELL CHAIN - FLAGSHIP STORE TO BECOME PART OF BON-TON". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  11. http://www.mcall.com/business/retail/mc-biz-bon-ton-store-closures-20180131-story.html
  12. "Trexler Mall Coin Laundry". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  13. "Trexler Mall". Cedar Realty Trust. Check date values in: |date= (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.