Schuylkill Mall

The Schuylkill Mall is a former regional Crown American shopping mall, located in Frackville, Pennsylvania. Ownership of the mall later transferred to PREIT after the merger with Crown American. In March 2007, Empire Reality Investments bought the Schuylkill Mall and currently owns and operates the amenity as of August 2011. The facility features approximately 96 storefronts, many of which are currently vacant. Current anchor stores are, K-mart, Sears, Black Diamond Antiques, Dunham's Sports and The-Bon-Ton. The mall has a 4 screen movie theater, but renovations are currently in the works to improve the movie theater and increase the number of screens. This was formerly a UA theater before becoming a Regal Theater. The theater closed briefly on October 4th 2010, before reopening as the Kings Circuit Theater. After some extensive renovations, the movie theater was re-opened as "The Pearl Stadium 8" in 2013.

History

The Schuylkill Mall opened on October 9, 1980 with three anchor stores: Kmart, Hess's, and Sears. Pomeroy's then moved from their downtown Pottsville store to an addition to the mall in 1984.Phar-Mor opened as a junior anchor in 1991.^[1] There were a variety of stores in the mall on the opening day. These included: Gap, Deb Shops, Spencer Gifts, Record Town, Jeans West, Foxmoor, Fashion Bug, B.Moss, Waldenbooks, Claire's Boutique, The Bottom Half, Chess King, KB Toys, Athletic Attic, and many other national chains.^[2] It also had a varied selection of restaurants: Chick-Fil-A, McDonald's, Orange Julius, Bonanza Steakhouse,a pizza restaurant called "Pizza Como" and Long John Silvers. Of these, only Arby's and the pizza restaurant remain. The latter changed its name to Suglia's Pizza, while maintaining the same owners. There is still a McDonald's Drive-Thru on the outside. The mall predominantly served the Schuylkill County area throughout the 1980s and 1990s, mainly because the competing malls in the county (Fairlane Village and Cressona Mall) were smaller in size and had fewer stores than the Schuylkill Mall. Notwithstanding this, the mall began to decline in popularity from the late 1990s.

Schuylkill Mall Theatres (Pearl Stadium 8)

Kings Theater Circuit Theater purchased the former Regal Theater shortly after its closer in October 2010. King Theatre Circuit announced that they planned to install and upgraded the stereo sound system in all four theaters and do a general upgrade.^[3] Since 2010 to 2013 the theater owners have been upgrading, renovating, and expanding the outdated 1980's theater. This is the biggest and only renovation to the space since it opened. Once complete, it will boast 8 stadium seated theaters, an upgraded 20,000 watt sound system, much lager movie screens, a digital projection system, new wall coverings and carpets. Another feature to the theater is 2 VIP sections known as "The Screening Room" it will feature a bar and restaurant capable of seating 50 people off of the VIP theater and luxury leather seats. This section will only be open to patroons 21 and older. The theater also has its own IMAX like experience, the screens measure about 35 feet wide and 40 feet high. They have also redone the entrance of the space, including a new concessions area, and restrooms.^[4] Another thing Kings Circuit has brought to the mall is a drive-in, called "Movies On The Mountain" located in an unused portion of the malls massive parking lot adjacent from the mall. They installed a large projection screen onto steel shipping containers along with an FM transmitter for sound to your car stereo. They show two movies for the price of one on select nights during the spring and summer.

Sears Expansion and Decline

In 1995, the mall management announced that they intended to grow the existing Sears store by expanding into three empty storefronts that had been in the Sears wing. The store also expanded outward into the parking lot. In June 1999, a new manager was selected. The malls steady decline initially started in 1996. A small percentage of the malls stores left in the late 90s. These stores were Lerner Shop, Muscleman Jewelers, Record Town, and quite a few others. Around the same time however, the facility opened new stores. Some of those being Bath and Body Works, American Outfitters (known today as American Eagle Outfitters), Victoria's Secret, and Littman Jewelers. Gap (clothing retailer) also moved from their original location to a much larger, more modern store. More stores continued to close throughout the 2000s. The businesses that were shuttered were as followed, KB Toys, Bonworth, Claire's Boutique, Spencer Gifts, Foot Locker, Dollar General, Rex T.V. and Appliance, Waldenbooks, Liberty Travel, and many many others. In 2003, Crown American merged with PRIET and they took control of the mall. As the Schuylkill Mall kept declining, PRIET was much looking forward to selling the property. Then in March 2007, Empire Reality Investments bought the mall and still owns it.

Current Mall

Today the Schuylkill Mall still has a Sears, Big Kmart, Big Lots, Cracker Barrel, Holiday Inn Express, Deb Shop, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Gamestop, Littman Jewelers, Radio Shack, Hallmark Gold Crown, Shoe Dept., 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. Due to the declining sales overall of Gap (clothing retailer) corporate sales, the company decided to shut their doors May 26, 2012 in the mall, and many other locations in the US.^[5] Some other stores have since closed and new national tenants are in negotiations with mall management.^[6] A new 58,000 square-food anchor store has since been added to the mall, called Dunham's Sports. The establishment opened on June 29, 2012. Adding more than 35 jobs to the local job force. The new sports store features a variety of items including brand-name clothing like Columbia, Nike and Reebok, sneakers, hats, kayaks, bikes, hunting equipment, golf equipment and other sports-related equipment. There is even a driving range at the back of the store. Outside the store, bikes and watercraft are on display. Inside, kayaks hang from cables in the ceiling.^[7]

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