King of Prussia Mall

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King of Prussia Mall
The ceiling and a platform at the mall
The ceiling and a platform at the mall
Facts and statistics
Location King of Prussia in Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Flag of the United States United States
Coordinates 40°5′18″N 75°23′25″W / 40.08833, -75.39028Coordinates: 40°5′18″N 75°23′25″W / 40.08833, -75.39028
Opening date 1963
Developer The Kravco Co.
Management Kravco Simon
Owner King of Prussia Associates, partnership including Kravco Simon
No. of stores and services 400+
No. of anchor tenants 8
Total retail floor area 2,793,200 square feet (251,388 m²)[1]
Parking Lighted Lot, Parking garage
No. of floors 2
Website http://www.kingofprussiamall.com

The King of Prussia Mall is the largest shopping mall on the East Coast of the United States,[2] and the largest shopping mall in the country in terms of leasable retail space.[3][4]

The two-building agglomeration is also arguably[5][6] America's largest shopping complex at one location. It is located in King of Prussia, an area within Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia.

Contents

[edit] History

The history of the King of Prussia Mall is a good example of the evolution of shopping malls and the retailing business.

The mall was originally developed by the Kravco company, which still owns it today (the company is now known as Kravco Simon). The Plaza at King of Prussia, the oldest portion of the complex, opened in 1963 as a modest open-air shopping mall anchored by JCPenney, discount department store E.J. Korvette, and an ACME supermarket. The Plaza prospered and by the late 1970s had become a partially enclosed super-regional mall anchored by department stores JCPenney, Gimbels, and Wanamaker's.

Kravco recognized a demand for more upscale shopping in the northwest Philadelphia market in the late 1970s. The company embarked on a second mall, The Court at King of Prussia, to be constructed across the street from The Plaza. The Court opened in 1981 as a fully enclosed mall anchored by department stores Bamberger's (later in 1986 to become Macy's), Bloomingdale's, and Abraham & Straus (A&S). In addition, Sears was added to The Plaza around this time, and until the early 1990s the Plaza sported such stores as Woolworth's, Herman's World of Sporting Goods, and a Lionel "Kiddie City" toy store. Before being redesigned, The Plaza also featured two 1980's style video arcades, each named Spaceport, and the Eric Twin movie theater which, in an era before multiplexes, had only two screens.

By the early 1990s, demand for luxury goods had grown across the nation and many upscale retailers were in a growth mode. Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom were all looking for new locations in the area, and Kravco didn't want any of them to land at a competing mall. The company's dilemma, though, was that The Court was on a small piece of land and couldn't expand, while The Plaza was too downscale for these stores. Kravco decided to embark on an ambitious campaign to almost completely rebuild The Plaza to make it just as attractive to upscale retailers as The Court and to begin marketing the two malls as a single entity (a pedestrian bridge and walkway connecting the malls was constructed around this time, though there have always been informal passageways from one to the other).

The new Plaza is fully enclosed and has two levels throughout. Lord & Taylor opened its doors in the fall of 1995, while Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom opened theirs in the spring of 1996. Upscale stores at The Plaza are clustered in the southern end of the mall near Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom, while middle-market stores remain clustered in the northern end of the mall near JCPenney, Sears, and Macy's. The Court now contains a mix of upscale stores and middle-market stores.

The anchor line-up at both malls changed during the 1990s. Stern's, which had replaced Gimbel's, left and JCPenney moved in to its old space. John Wanamaker was acquired by May Department Stores, which rebranded all Wanamaker's as Hecht's, their Baltimore-Washington regional nameplate. Abraham & Straus was consolidated with Macy's and Strawbridge & Clothier briefly took its place at The Court. Soon after, May acquired Strawbridge & Clothier, rebranded it as simply Strawbridge's, and merged it with Hecht's Philadelphia operations. The Hecht's (former John Wanamaker) at The Plaza became a Strawbridge's and the Strawbridge's (former Abraham & Straus) at The Court closed. The mall even featured an outlet of the popular New York City toy company F.A.O. Schwarz, complete with giant teddy bear, before hard financial times forced it to close in 2004.

The growth of large-format specialty retailers in the 1990s led to the early 2000s conversion of the former Strawbridge's store at The Court into The Pavilion at King of Prussia, which might be considered the "third mall" at King of Prussia. The Pavilion consists of a small mall directly connected to The Court but is not owned by Kravco. Tenants at The Pavilion include The Cheesecake Factory, Borders, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Five Below, and Morton's, The Steakhouse, to name a few.

In 2006, the Strawbridge's store was reflagged as a second Macy's location. It was closed in 2007, and future status for the building is undetermined.

[edit] King of Prussia today

The upscale mall, anchored by Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, JCPenney, Macy's and Sears and one vacant department store, has over 400 stores and restaurants. It is also the sole outpost in Philadelphia for a number of high-end stores including Stuart Weitzman, Hugo Boss, Betsey Johnson, Movado, Kate Spade, Furla, Molton Brown, DKNY, Cartier, Anne Fontaine, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton. King of Prussia frequently sees the addition of new luxury stores, most recently signing David Yurman, Boss Orange, Mont Blanc, Ralph Lauren, North Face, Samsonite, Thomas Pink and Salvatore Ferragamo.

The average household income of shoppers is $70,000 a year.[citation needed] Shoppers spend more than a billion dollars annually, giving the Plaza, excluding department stores, an average annual sales per square foot of $512, the Court an average of $470, although some of the luxury goods stores have averages over $4,000 per square foot.[citation needed]

The mall is a prominent tourist destination in the Philadelphia area, with an estimated 20-25% of visitors as tourists. Several nearby hotels offer mall tourist packages, which typically include mall gift cards. The mall employs over 6,000 people in the area.

Due to the mall's size, several stores rent more than one space. For example, the mall has three Sunglass Hut Internationals, three Auntie Anne's Pretzels, three Hallmark Cards shops, two Coach stores, two The Body Shops, two Bath & Body Works, three Victoria's Secrets, two Starbucks, two Gamestop stores, two General Nutrition Center stores, three AT&T stores, and two Teavana stores.

In addition to over 20 trendy, mid-range restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen, the complex has three distinct food courts, offering everything from Burger King and Chick-Fil-A to a cheesesteak shop and an upscale pizza market.

The mall has several large stores located in the immediate vicinity, including a 16 screen United Artists Theaters with an IMAX theater,[7] a supermarket, a Costco Wholesale, Toys "R" Us, Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack, Crate and Barrel and several luxury and affordable hotels. Lockheed Martin also has offices nearby.

[edit] Future anchors

The malls website has some redevelopment plans listed[8], showing the vacant Strawbridge's building being replaced with a new JC Penney and a second, unnamed department store. They also show the existing JC Penney building being taken over by Target. No formal announcements have been made yet, so the development is most likely still in the proposal stages.

There are two sections to this mall, each located in its own double-level building:

[edit] Stores

Some of the 400+ stores located at the mall include:

[edit] Anchors

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kravco Simon Regional Center Portfolio, accessed July 24, 2006
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Online NewsHour: Paradox of Choice - December 26, 2003
  4. ^ Largest Shopping Malls in the United States
  5. ^ http://www.icsc.org/srch/about/impactofshoppingcenters/TenLargest.pdf
  6. ^ Largest Shopping Malls in the United States
  7. ^ UA King Of Prussia Stadium 16 & IMAX Showtimes and Tickets
  8. ^ untitled

[edit] External links

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