South Mall

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

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 services35
No. of anchor tenants3
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

History
South Mall's main entrance

1970s and 1980s

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 Markets location and several specialty shops.[2]

In 1979, the Hess's chain, which developed and owned the mall and operated its largest tenant, was bought by a Johnstown-based mall developing firm, Crown American, and the transaction included South Mall, which had been owned by Hess's.[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, adding discount drugstore Phar-Mor as its third major anchor in the newer portion of the mall.[5]

1990s

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 Store.[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.

2000s

Phar-Mor closed its anchor store at the South Mall in 2002 as part of the chain's national closure.[10] This was replaced by Steve & Barry's, a retail clothing 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 antique mini-mall that featured over 100 individual dealers selling various curios.[13]

2010s

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]

In fall 2016, Yocco's Hot Dogs, a regionally famous hotdog and cheesesteak restaurant chain, opened its sixth Lehigh Valley restaurant in South Mall.[16][17]

On January 1, 2017, Black Rose Antiques moved from South Mall to Phillipsburg Mall in Philipsburg, New Jersey.[18] The anchor space Black Rose Antiques previously occupied in the South Mall was the subdivided with Limerick Furniture occupying the larger share of the space in early 2017.[19] The remainder of the space was revamped to accommodate Full Circle Training, a gymnasium that opened in early 2018.[20]

In 2018, The Bon-Ton, the oldest and largest anchor of the South Mall, closed all of its national store locations, including its South Mall location.[21] In 2019, Limerick Furniture closed as well, leaving the mall with just Stein Mart, a men's and women's clothing store, as its sole remaining major anchor tenant.[22]

2020s

In 2020, the last anchor of the mall, Stein Mart announced it would be closing all stores. In addition 2 stores have been added replacing former store spaces.

On February 10, 2021, Amazon Lockers and Salisbury Youth Association opened South Mall stores, replacing the former FootLocker

On April 1st, 2021, the franchised T-Mobile store near the mall entrance closed up permanently. The corporate store across from this former T-Mobile and the Metro by T-Mobile, however, remain open. Another store, called Uniquely Lo. Co., has opened a South Mall store.

On May 26th, 2021, the Claire’s store closed its South Mall location.

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 craft beer bar with live entertainment, and the South Mall Mercantile antiques dealer, have been brought in to fill the voids left by more traditional mall retailers.

Anchors

Major tenants
  • Ross Dress for Less

Former anchors

Main
  • Full Circle Training (2018–2020, currently vacant)
  • Stein Mart (1996–2020, currently vacant)
  • Limerick Furniture & Mattress (2017-2019, currently vacant)
  • The Bon-Ton (1994-2018, currently vacant)
  • Black Rose Antiques & Collectibles (2009-2016, replaced by Full Circle Training and Limerick Furniture)
  • Steve & Barry's (2003-2009, replaced by Black Rose Antiques & Collectibles)
  • Phar-Mor (1991-2002, replaced by Steve & Barry's)
  • Jamesway (1986-1995, replaced by Stein Mart, Gold's Gym, and Home & Gifts)
  • Hess's South (1971-1994, replaced by The Bon-Ton
  • Weis Markets (1975-1999, divided between Sleepy's, Blick Art, and A1 Japanese Steakhouse)
  • Former Bon-Ton
  • Former Black Rose
  • Former Stein Mart

Major tenants

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. Falsone, Nick. "Yocco's to open 6th hot dog shop in Lehigh Valley, report says". Lehigh Valley Live. The Express-Times. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  17. "Hot diggety dog! Yocco's to open sixth Lehigh Valley eatery,", The Morning Call, August 18, 2016, retrieved November 30, 2018.
  18. "Black Rose Antiques And Collectibles Opens A Location In Phillipsburg, N.J. | Antiques & Auction News". antiquesandauctionnews.net. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  19. Harris, Jon (2017-11-17). "South Mall, under new ownership, on an 'upward path'". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  20. 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.
  21. Harris, Jon (2018-04-30). "Life without Bon-Ton: Disaster or opportunity for Lehigh Valley malls?". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  22. Kneller, Ryan (2019-04-29). "Limerick Furniture to join string of recent store closures at South Mall". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
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