Neshaminy Mall: Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania

The sixth mall in the Philadelphia metro area was a one-story mall in Bensalem Township, a fairly typical suburban mall with a few special touches that make it stand out above the rest.  Named Neshaminy Mall, the mall was named for nearby Neshaminy Creek.  Meaning "double drinking place", the name was derived from the language of the Lenni Lenape tribe of Delaware Indians.  From the beginning, the mall lived up to its name constructing a large fountain as its centerpiece.  Constructed in 1968 by a partnership between The Korman Company and Strouse Greenberg, the original mall looked impressive for one level with very high courts over two stories tall both in front of its original two anchors and in the center court.  Those original anchors were Strawbridge & Clothier and Sears.

As an ode to the tribe that the mall was named for, the original fountain was replaced within two years of the mall's opening with a much larger fountain that was paid for by one of the mall's two original anchors: Strawbridge's.  Sears may have also had a fountain, but it was probably similar to the original one in front of Strawbridge's and later removed.  Apparently Strawbridge's wanted to showcase their store with a much showier fountain with historic precedent to replace the more basic concrete fountain that was put there when the mall opened.  The newer fountain features a waterfall, a pool, trees, plants and a statue of Tawanka, chief of the Lenni Lenape tribe for which the name Neshaminy was derived.  It was dedicated on September 9, 1970.  Strawbridge's was a family-run store until the 1990's, and the family loved to pay homage to the area's history both on the exterior and at the mall entrances.  This was their contribution to Neshaminy Mall.

The first photo shows the fountain, waterfall and pool in front of the Strawbridge's (later Macy's) mall entrance.  More details of the fountain and court are shown both above and below.  The upper level seen above the Macy's sign was part of the Strawbridge's restaurant and was closed to the public when the restaurant closed.

A view of the fountain and statue facing the Boscov's wing.  Macy's is to the right.

Detail of the statue

Detail of the waterfall

Plaque on the fountain explaining the meaning behind the fountain and sculpture.

Fountain facing the Boscov's wing.

Fountain facing the main part of the mall toward Sears.

Strawbridge's did not hesitate to make their store the centerpiece of the mall despite not actually being in the center of the mall.  This included the third floor of Strawbridge's overlooking the mall providing a view from what was then the Corinthian Room restaurant.  This was also likely part of the reason for the fountain upgrade.  Nonetheless, aside from Strawbridge's, the mall was otherwise a fairly typical mall of the era forming a straight shot from Strawbridge's to Sears.  Over time, this arrangement proved to be less competitive, and an expansion was undertaken in 1975 to help the mall better compete with more popular Oxford Valley Mall.  Oxford Valley Mall had opened in 1973 a mere six miles away with a bigger, better mall and was stealing customers from the older mall.  The newer mall had the same anchors as Neshaminy, and the expansion of Neshaminy Mall added a northeast wing that included Lit Brothers department store and between 15-25 more inline stores.

Above is the detail of the skylights inside the former Strawbridge's/Macy's when it was still open.  The gorgeous escalator/staircases in the center of the store was a signature style of suburban Strawbridge's locations.

More detail of the stairs, escalators and chandaliers at the Strawbridge's.

Exiting back out into the mall, more detail of Strawbridge's court.  The overhead skylights and windows are 1960's, but it is tasteful and attractive giving abundant natural light.

Philly-based Lit Brothers, however, was a lower-end department store that was no longer able to compete after competition from larger chains cut into their business.  The entire chain was liquidated in 1977.  Lit Brothers closure was also due to its parent company, City Stores (now CSS industries), divesting its department store holdings in the span of 1973-1980 including other chains like Lansburgh's in DC and Loveman's in Alabama.  Pomeroy's, a division of Allied Department Stores replaced Lit Brothers the same year.    Ten years later, Bon-Ton would take over Pomeroy's when the chain was spun off as part of the sale of Allied Stores to Federated.  Bon-Ton itself would itself prove to struggle in the market, closing in 1994.  Boscov's would take over the location in 1995 and ultimately outlast all the other previous tenants.

The 1973 addition was apparently originally designed as a darker corridor with no natural light.  A later renovation added these skylights, which obviously had to be worked in above the existing ceiling trusses.  This is an unfortunate and unsightly trend in more recent malls as a way of adding skylights where none previously existed.

Like the older parts of the mall, the Boscov's court was designed with high ceilings, but did they ever serve any purpose?  Skylights added were more subdued than the 1960's portion of the mall.  The store originally opened as Lit Brothers in 1973 and later operated as Pomeroy's and Bon-Ton before becoming Boscov's in 1995. 

A small exterior entrance corridor is located next to Boscov's that appears to have originally held around 4-6 tenants.

Leaving the Boscov's court returning to the older part of the mall.

Since the initial 1975 expansion, the mall was expanded two more times.  The first was the addition of a food court in 1989 that was further expanded in 1990.  After a 1995 renovation, the mall was expanded again adding a northwest wing ending at a 24 screen AMC theater in 1998.  This expansion also brought the mall to over one million square feet.  Throughout the years, the mall also changed ownership several times.  The first ownership change came with the sale of the mall from Mutual of New York (now known as AXA) to Homart Development Company, the real estate development arm of Sears.  The mall was sold again to General Growth Properties (GGP) in 1995 when Sears sold off Homart properties and shut down the subsidiary.  GGP continues to currently own the mall.

Details of the actual center court of the mall with abundant natural light coming from large windows and overhead skylights.  If the areas around the skylights and high windows were replaced with actual color and wood trim with as impressive of a center court as exists in front of the old Strawbridge's, this would be truly impressive.

A view into the food court area.

Sears court and mall entrance.  Barnes & Noble takes up a large junior anchor space to the left of the Sears entrance.  It is worrisome what will happen to this mall when Sears closes.

This is NOT something you see everyday in a modern mall: a Time-Out Arcade!  I'm glad I captured this.  I ultimately found another Time-Out Arcade at another mall and went in with a friend to play some Skee Ball.

Before you go to watch the fifth sequel of a movie you were tired of by the second one, you "gotta go to Mo's!"  Modell's is a moderately successful sporting goods chain that has somehow found a niche among larger players in the Northeast.  It is often found off-mall.

Fun for the whole family at the AMC 24!  The addition of the theater in 1995 rounded off the mall at four anchors.

Next year, Neshaminy Mall will celebrate its 50th anniversary, but there may not be anything to celebrate considering that the mall is facing a crisis.  Between 1995 and 2015, nothing significant changed with the mall other than Strawbridge's becoming Macy's.  However, Strawbridge's was long in decline before it became Macy's with the family losing the store to May Company in the late 90's who then sold it to Federated Department Stores, which converted it to Macy's.  In early 2017, Macy's decided to close its location at the mall after 49 years of business.  This leaves a significant hole in the mall, especially when considering that the mall's only other original anchor, Sears, is very close to going under.  This leaves only Boscov's and the AMC theater as anchors to the mall.  Since dead anchors in malls are now impossible to fill, this is the beginning of the end of a very special little mall.  We wish so much that the industry could be turned around and that new stores could come in and fill these voids, but since the beginning of the decade this has proved nearly impossible for too many malls.  Non-traditional anchors are what will be needed, but this will mean that the existing Sears and Strawbridge's buildings will likely need to be demolished since they are too big for the needs of any future retail tenant.

Sears at a mall should never go without a photograph: especially when it's a store from 1968!  As one of the original two anchors, the troubles with the chain are worrisome considering that Macy's left the former Strawbridge's location after 49 continuous years of business.

Sears Auto Center

Boscov's, which opened in 1977 as Lit Brothers.  As typical of Boscov's, the exterior entrance saw a few updates.  When a smaller chain like Boscov's can update their stores from previous owners, but Macy's can't even afford a gallon of paint, it's pretty obvious there is something wrong with Macy's.

RIP Strawbridge & Clothier.  The Strawbridge's "Seal of Confidence" is visible in the stone on the right.  That confidence was lost when it became Macy's.

The problems for Neshaminy as a competitive mall, however, are not new.  Since the mall was built, it has competed with two larger malls with better anchors.  It is also a reflection of the industry as a whole where department store closures and consolidation are making it harder and harder for the typical suburban mall to survive.  Neshaminy was one of those malls that was once bulletproof.  As evidence of these problems, its main two competitors are also facing difficulties.  Oxford Valley Mall, once the primary competitor to Neshaminy, is also not doing well with a dead anchor and many vacancies.  Even competing Willow Grove Park Mall, located 12 miles away, just lost JCPenney and is soon to lose its Sears although it has already downsized Sears for Irish clothing store Primark.  Neshaminy has also seen an uptick in vacancies since Macy's closure.  Unlike with many malls with a sudden loss of a major anchor, this one is harder to pinpoint.  Perhaps it can be summed up as the King of Prussia effect: a mall so dominant in the market that none of the other malls can effectively compete.  At this point, it is difficult to predict what the final outcome will be, because the mall seemed to be doing very well when the pictures were taken.  Macy's was full of customers and so was the mall.  What happened?  It seems as though the most likely outcome for Neshaminy will be redevelopment into a mixed use center keeping only Boscov's and the AMC theaters.  It's not a plan that is worth celebrating when a mall like this survives 50 years, but the wheels of change are suddenly moving too fast for conventional malls like this one.

Concord Mall: Wilmington, DE

Non-locals and retail enthusiasts seem to have ignored a particular mall in the Philadelphia metro area.  After seeing this mall, we have to wonder why.  Opening in 1965, Concord Mall was originally a small enclosed mall anchored on the south end by a store called Almart, a discount division of Allied Stores founded in 1962.  The mall attached to Almart was also built by Allied Stores.  Of note is also that Almart was known as J.B. Hunter in other markets although J.B. Hunter appears to have been a low-end department store.  While Allied Stores no longer exists as an entity in the U.S., it appears that the mall itself was spun off to a small corporation bearing the name of the former corporate parent.  The early mall was a relatively small and noncompetitive ancillary mall compared with other malls in the market, so it is remarkable that the mall is not only still around today but is doing quite well.

Concord Mall is not a mall without competition, which is part of what makes it unique in how well it does.  Add to that that all malls in Delaware greatly benefit from being in a state with no sales tax, meaning that retail is big business in the First State.  This draws in many shoppers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey that might otherwise go to competing malls.  In all, it basically carved out its own niche in the market despite being 14 miles from far more popular Christiana Mall, 17 miles from Springfield Mall, 17 miles from Exton Square Mall and 27 miles from the massive King of Prussia Mall.  Competition is not that far away, but it is still far enough away that it definitely has a convenience factor.  Its present anchors today include Boscov's, Macy's, Macy's Home and Sears.  With Sears failing as a company, that might present issues for the mall, but as a healthy mall, this anchor may not be super difficult to fill.  In fact, in an era when so many malls are on the brink of failure this is not one of them.

The center court and fountain is very striking with decor similar to what was used in malls in the very early 90's.

Looking south down the Sears wing from center court.  It is clear that the center skylights were added later due to the structural elements being incorporated into the design.

The layout of the original mall was a straight-shot one level mall with a small three-story office building in the middle making it a fairly typical mall of that period.  In 1971, the mall saw its first addition when a Pomeroy's was added on the northern end of the mall transforming it a standard dumbbell shaped mall.  It also appears that it was not an accident that Pomeroy's became the northern anchor.  Pomeroy's was a division of Allied Stores, who also owned Almart on the mall's southern end.  This meant the mall's owners had a vested interest in bringing in stores they already owned.  The biggest coup for the mall, however, came in 1983 when Philadelphia-based Strawbridge & Clothier opened an elegant new store in the front of the mall.  This new store came with very distinct architectural touches and was coupled with an update to the mall that restructured a dark and plain mall into a far more attractive one with a large glass atrium in the center court, added skylights, new planters, fountains and an updated look.  It made an ancillary mall into a truly competitive one.  Strawbridge's was also the first non-Allied anchor to open in the mall.

A more traditional fountain greets shoppers in the lush court in front of Sears.

The mall directory today.  The former north anchor was Pomeroy's and the south anchor was originally Almart.  On the right side, it appears there was once a mall theater.  The strip portion shown on the upper left is owned as part of the mall and is located just north of the mall.

The tall planters were really an elegant touch.

The relocation of Strawbridge's, however, was somewhat sad as it replaced a 1951 store at the Merchandise Mart, now Merchant's Square.  Built as an anchor to one of the oldest strip shopping centers in the country, the former Strawbridge's location was abandoned for many years and finally demolished in 2009 with a Food Lion built just behind the site of the former store.  A set of photos from Retroland USA shows the demolition of the original store.

Detail of the fountain next to the food court and in front of Boscov's.

Boscov's mall entrance, which was Pomeroy's until 1986.  It has been there much longer than its original anchor.

A bit more detail of the tall planters looking south to center court.

Macy's, which was Strawbridge's from 1983-2006, has by far the most elegant mall entrance.  The mall is visible from the second floor of the store.  Below is the Strawbridge & Clothier seal placed as a "monument" to the store.  Every Strawbridge's location had this seal.

In 1984, the Almart chain was sold off to the Montgomery Ward corporation, which Ward's subsequently opened as a unit of their Jefferson Ward division, a discount format of Montgomery Ward.  Jefferson Ward was originally a Miami-based discount chain called Jefferson's that Montgomery Ward purchased in 1973.  Jefferson Ward was poorly operated by Montgomery Ward, and the stores were sold the following year to Bradlee's.  Two years after Almart was sold, the Pomeroy's location was sold off to Boscov's as part of their expansion into the Philadelphia region and as part of the Campeau purchase of Allied stores.  Pomeroy's itself would disappear the following year after Allied Stores was sold.  All Pomeroy's locations were converted to The Bon-Ton.  In all, the 1980's were pretty eventful for the mall.

A view from the second floor of Macy's to the cosmetics department and mall entrance.

Staggered escalators give a unique perspective to the center of Macy's.

Domed skylight with visors in Macy's.

Inside the Macy's outside entrance to the parking lot.

The positive side of all of this was that none of these changes harmed the mall.  Changes in the industry in this case helped improve the mall's position in the market by making it more appealing to the residents of the region by bringing in popular stores.  The addition of Boscov's and Strawbridge's was far more of a boon to the mall than its original format as a low-end mall anchoring a 1960's discount store.   Nonetheless, further changes took place in the 1990's.  1992 saw the closure and demolition of the Bradlee's (former Almart) for a new two-story Sears.  Soon after, 1994 saw creative reuse of the office building draped over the mall as Strawbridge's decided to expand its home section into the office building.  This change created a strange quirk in the mall where the upper levels of the home store actually overlook the mall itself.  Thus, what is otherwise a one level mall suddenly jumps to three levels!  After these two changes occurred, Concord Mall finally stabilized.

Looking up from the mall skylight is the mall's most unusual detail: an office building converted to Strawbridge's Home Store, currently Macy's Home.

The Macy's home store sneaks up on you as its narrow three-story tower looms over the main mall just north of center court.  It opened as Strawbridge's home store in 1994 after previously functioning as an office building.

The Strawbridge & Clothier seal is also located just above the mall on the second floor.

Today, Concord Mall has seen very few changes since the adjustments of the 80's and 90's.  The only anchor change since that time was Strawbridge's, which converted to Macy's in 2006 with the sale of then-owners May Department Stores to Federated Department Stores (now Macy's, Inc.).  What will be interesting to see is what happens when Sears inevitably folds as a chain.  Unless one of the few remaining department stores to choose from relocates from another store, the mall will need to be creative to fill the void.  The most likely possibility is that JCPenney relocates from their current location at Prices Corner Shopping Center to the mall.  JCPenney's current store at the shopping center is from the 1950's, and it is way too close to their Christiana Mall store.  Another possibility is an urban format Wal-Mart, which currently has no locations in the immediate area.  The addition of Wal-Mart in that spot would be incredibly ironic since it is only one letter off from the original anchor Almart, and both were discount stores founded in 1962.  Less likely is that Lord & Taylor may also look to locate a store at the mall (they previously were located at Christiana Mall until 2006).  If none of that materializes, the anchor will probably become extended mall space coupled with junior anchors or an entertainment option creating an interesting two-level addition on the southern end.  Considering the excellent demographics, location and popularity of the mall, it should not be difficult to fill a Sears vacancy.

Two views from the third level of the furniture store down into the main mall.

Outside views of the officer tower transitioned to home store for Strawbridge's, later Macy's.  Note the labeslcar in the third photo.

What is also remarkable about Concord Mall is the way it looks today.  It was certainly a shock to enter a mall that had so much of what is rarely seen in malls today: lush planters, three fountains, colorful decor, and distinctive architectural touches sorely missed in most other malls.  The mall itself does not have an exciting layout, but it was far more enjoyable when coupled with these special touches.  Add this in with the very unique design for the Macy's and the surprising layout of the vertical home store, and what would otherwise be a very bland mall is actually quite beautiful.  It probably helps that the owners are not part of a major mall conglomerate, which is also likely why the mall does so well despite being overlooked by larger, better known malls in the region.  In all, Concord Mall got better with age in its 50+ years of business.  It was an unexpected and surprising retail diamond that will hopefully continue to shine for many more.

View of the furniture store from the west side of the mall.

Boscov's and mall entrance.  Boscov's retains many architectural cues from Pomeroy's.

Exterior shot of Strawbridge's (Macy's) parking lot entrance.  Zoomed out shots were taken, but they did not turn out well due to the store's close proximity to the road.

Detail of mall entrance next to Sears

Sears opened at the mall in 1992 replacing a closed location of a dying discount chain with a full-line department store.  However, the site is the reason the mall was built in the first place: to complement the Almart discount chain that folded in the 80's.  It was Jefferson Ward and Bradlee's prior to Sears.