| Location | Route 61 and I-81 Frackville, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Address | 830 Schuylkill Mall Rd. Frackville Pennsylvania |
| Opening date | November 17, 1980 |
| Developer | Crown American |
| Owner | Empire Reality Investments |
| No. of stores and services | 50 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 with 1 vacancy |
| Total retail floor area | 800,000 square ft |
| Parking | Lighted Lot |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Website | www.shopschuylkillmall.com |
The Schuylkill Mall is a regional former, Crown American mall located in Frackville, Pennsylvania. The mall later changed ownership to PREIT after the merger with Crown American. In March 2007, Empire Reality Investments bought the Schuylkill Mall and owns and operates it as of August 2011[update]. It features about 96 storefronts, many of which are currently vacant. The malls current anchor stores are, K-mart, Sears, Black Diamond Antiques, and The-Bon-Ton. There is also one other anchor that is currently vacant. The mall also has a 4 screen movie theater. It used to be a UA theater but then became a Regal Theater. The theater closed briefly in September 2010 and reopened as a Kings Theater Circuit Theater and currently operates as that.
Contents |
The Schuylkill Mall opened on November 17, 1980 with four anchor stores, K-mart, Hess's, Pomeroy's, and Sears. The mall also had a Woolworth's junior anchor. In 1987 a Phar-Mor store opened as the malls 5th anchor. The mall had a lot of different stores on the opening day. Such stores include, Gap, Deb Shops, Spencer Gifts, Record Town, Jeans West, Foxmoor, Fashion Bug, B.Moss, Waldenbooks, Claire's Boutique, Afterthoughts, Listening Booth, Slack Shack, KB Toys, Footlocker, and many other national chains. It also had a good selection of restaurants. Chick-Fil-A, McDonald's, Boardwalk Fries, Bonanza Steakhouse, Arby's, a pizza restaurant called "Little Italy" and a Long John Silvers.Out of all of those, only the Arby's and pizza restaurant remain, although the name changed to Suglia's Pizza and has the same owners. There is still a McDonald's Drive-Thru on the outside. The mall pretty much served the Schuylkill County area throughout the 1980s and 1990s because the competing malls in the county (Fairlane Village and Cressona Mall) were not nearly as large or had as many stores as the Schuylkill Mall did. However, The mall would start to decline in the late 1990s.
In 1995, mall management announced that they would expand the current Sears store by expanding out into 3 empty storefronts that were in the Sears wing. The store also expanded outward into the parking lot. In June 1999, a new manager was selected for the Schuylkill Mall and ever since then, the mall has seem to have been declining. However the mall was still doing good up until 2007 with tenants like, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, Gap/Gap Kids, Gamestop, and Bonworth. Other stores from the malls early years were still there such as, Waldenbooks, Claires, Radio Shack, Gertude Hawk Chocolates, Regis Salon, and KB Toys. But in 2009 the mall became really bad. In January 2009, The long-time Waldenbooks and Claire's stores closed. Also the Chick-Fil-A restaurant closed in December 2009. In 2010, the mall started to used Non-Traditional tenants such as a Renal Clinic, a Church (Which opened in the former Lerner space), and a Health Office. Other local stores also set up shop like, Air Graphics and Adorable Pets. In 2011, Kay Jewelers closed their store. The store closed along with Liberty Travel,and Famous Labeles that was on the right side of the former Hess's anchor. The store was split. Other stores that were there before that include, U.S. Factory Outlets, Black Diamond Antiques (Relocated), and Steve & Barry's. The Bonworth store also recently closed.
Today the Schuylkill Mall still has a Deb Shop, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Gap, Gamestop, Littman Jewelers, Radio Shack, Hallmark Gold Crown, Shoe Dept., Payless Shoe Source, and a few other national tenants. The mall also has some popular local stores that are in other malls like Gertude Hawk Chocolates and Schuylkill Valley Sports. Some other stores have since closed and new national tenants are in negotiations with mall management.