Echelon Mall

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Echelon Mall, located in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, was developed in 1970 as the center of a residential and commercial center in Voorhees. Currently, its anchor stores are Boscov's (173,000 sq. ft.; originally Lit Brothers, later Gimbels and then Stern's) and Macy's (224,000 sq. ft.; formerly Strawbridge's).

In recent years, Echelon Mall has struggled, to the point where some are preparing to consider it a dead mall, even though the surrounding area is not considered to be in decline. The current vacancy rate is about 50%. Echelon has had several problems contributing to its high vacancy rate including its overexpansion with a fourth anchor, Sears, which closed within a couple years. The rest of the mall also did not get a much needed renovation to stay competitive and attractive. J.C. Penney left the mall a year after Sears; there has been a gradual loss of national chains since.

In addition, there are numerous other malls close by in South Jersey, including moderately-sized malls in Moorestown, Cherry Hill and Deptford. While Echelon competed with these centers for years, the advent of newer centers such as The Promenade at Sagemore (Marlton), Marlton Square (Marlton) and significant renovation of the Deptford Mall, with the addition of a JCPenney, have provided more attractive shopping alternatives in the area. Also, whereas most United States shopping malls are located near an Interstate highway or at least a principal thoroughfare, Echelon is relatively difficult to get to, located at the somewhat obscure intersection of Somerdale and Burnt Mill in Voorhees.

The Strawbridge's store (now Macy's) in the Echelon Mall

After its proposal for a Wal-Mart store was rejected by residents, PREIT plans to demolish the abandoned anchor stores and adjacent mall space, to make way for a mixed-use "town center" featuring a 65,000-square-foot supermarket and 130,000 square feet of retail stores along a landscaped boulevard. PREIT will renovate the newly downsized mall to house 253,000 square feet of small specialty shops along with anchor stores Macy's and Boscov's.

The mall will be renamed as Voorhees Town Center. Groundbreaking on the new project was on January 30, 2007.^[1] Currently major construction is going on at the mall. Demolition is in progress on the former JCPenny and Sears buildings as well as the section of the mall from JCPenny to Macy's, thus returning the mall to almost the same size and footprint it was when it first opened.