Brive-By Photos 32

 Unwrapped
An update to this picture. It has been stripped of its siding. An auto shop is in the process of moving in. The building has been more than doubled inside, though the original shape remains. The building behind it appears to have disappeared, as well.

 Lionville Advance Auto Construction
New parking lot lights are up. I think the heavy equipment was on its way out, as most of the structural work is now complete.

Hampton Inn & Hoss's, Lionville, PA

These both were built in 1992. Hoss', a somewhat local steakhouse chain, replaced whatever the original restaurant tenant was in the mid-90's, and closed in 2011. I don't know exactly when, since the sign stayed up for at least a year after they closed. As far as I'm aware, they still have several restaurants up further north. Hampton Inn started a major remodel earlier this year. Update: Hoss's has been demolished as of mid-2018. The site is currently vacant.

 I sometimes walk along the Washington Building porch. Makes for a more interesting walk, and provides a good place to take some pictures.

 Shack
This was once a house, belonging to early 1900's artist Albert VanNesse Greene. Not sure if he was actually famous, or if I have only heard so much about him since he was local. This was later bought by the Hallman family, owners of the General store down the road. It is currently used as a storage shed.

 Creepy Cabin
The top of this structure appears to have been rebuilt, probably around the time the cabin was. The cellar itself looks like it probably would have been built in the 1700's, or early 1800's at the latest.

 View facing the road, which looked like the back of the cabin.

 It looks like the roof was replaced. The ceiling would have been plaster originally.

Other finds on the property indicate that something was here in the 1700's or early 1800's, but this building seems newer (I'm guessing 1930's). Perhaps it replaced an older structure. I can't imagine anyone living here too recently, but it is in acceptable condition.

 There was a little bit of furniture being stored here. The building was just one room with a loft above half of it.

Montesano Bros, Bucktown, PA

This is in a small complex of buildings that probably date back to the 70's. Montesano's opened here around 2010. They have two locations. The original one in Chester Springs, and this. Update: This closed in 2017, and I believe is now a Mexican restaurant.

1977 Zenith Ad
Something I found in an old magazine.

 Arby's, Wilmington, DE
This Arby's didn't look that old, but given the sign, was probably built in the 80's at the latest.

 ACME, Wilmington, DE
Not a great exterior shot, but I felt it was necessary to include. This store opened in 1953, and is currently the third-oldest ACME building in the chain (not counting A&P-built ones, I'm pretty sure there's a handful that are older).

 I don't believe this store had a pharmacy, given its size. It did carry a sizable drugstore selection.

 Dairy cases were recessed into the walls. Most stores had alcoves over the cases, but this one most likely just had a small overhanging wall above it that was extended down.

 Meats along the back wall.

 The store felt very clean and modern, despite being over 60 years old.

 Meats and seafood were combined into one department here. I think this happens in most of their stores, although I'm positive I've seen them separate.

Salad bar and bakery. The hanging signs near the wall are a holdover from the store's previous décor.

 Sleepy's/Fortunoff, Exton, PA
Sleepy's opened here in the 90's, and relocated to the former Mattress Giant after they bought the chain. More recently, Sleepy's was bought out by Mattress Firm, resulting in another rebranding. Update: Now a Fortunoff store as of 2018.

 Hechinger/ACME/Hobby Lobby, Exton, PA
The brick that used to cover most of the building's front has thankfully been removed and replaced with windows. Also gone are ACME's two entrances, replaced with one in the middle of the store.

 Gino's/Wendy's/KFC-Taco Bell, Exton, PA
I was surprised to learn that this was a Gino's back in the 70's. It never had their signature pitched roof. It was a Wendy's for a while after that (some of the brick in back looks like it is left over from then), which closed in the early 2000's. It sat empty for what felt like an eternity before becoming a KFC/Taco Bell combo. I could have sworn it was remodeled recently, but street views show it having this look since at least 2008. Update: Remodeled 2018.

309 Cinemas, North Wales, PA
This theater looks like it dates back to the 60's. It is in a shopping center built in 1993, I would guess this was here first. The name comes from the road it is on. There are only 9 theaters inside this. Update: Extensively renovated in 2017.

North Wales Sunoco ConstructionAs was speculated in my previous picture, Sunoco is rebuilding this location. I was wrong, lately Sunoco is really getting into rebuilding some of these older locations (Mainly 60's stores and former Arco's, with the occasional newer one such as this). The new station features a larger store that isn't located under the canopy. I look forward to going inside one day.

 Springhouse Village Center, Springhouse, PA
This part is the oldest section of the building. It was the original part of the barn, probably from the 1850's

 This building was a mixed-use office and retail complex. The retail portion was concentrated towards the front of the building, while the area around the barn was offices.

 The sycamore trees have been cut down mostly in preparation for demolition. Temporary electric poles have been set up to keep both remaining stores operational until their replacements are complete.

 Construction building this center began in 1969. At the heart of this building, there is a barn that dates back to the 1800's. This building was complete by 1970, with the outbuildings and Clemens ready in 1971.

 Believe it or not, there were still three stores operating here when I visited. Two remained by the time demolition began, both of which are given a space in the new center.

 The staircase going up was blocked off, so I couldn't get a look inside he store up there.

 This porch was the main entrance to the interior portion of the mall.

 These outbuildings, near the entrance to the center on Skippack Pike, were both here before the shopping center was built. The near one must have been some kind of barn, while the far one was a house. I think these were both used as offices more recently.

 Back outside, this is the part of the center that was still barely living. The façade was redone sometime in the early 2000's. It actually looked pretty nice; my pictures don't do it justice.

 Heading back inside the old mall. I didn't venture in too far, since I heard voices at the other end of the hall, and had a feeling I wasn't supposed to be there.

 There was a skylight looking up into what I would assume was an atrium, would probably served as a transition between the retail and office space.

 Looking under the drive-thru teller at beneficial. You know the shopping center is dying when a bank that hasn't been bought out closes their branch there.

 The lower roof in front of me must have been a chicken coop originally. Historic aerials show it was added to the barn sometime in the 40's. Beyond that, we can see some very primitive skylights that would have been somewhere in the middle of the building. This whole complex was surprisingly large.

 The side of the original barn building. The cinderblock structure must have been some form of fire escape.

 This shed dates back to when this was a farm. It looks like it was serving as a pump house for the pond next to it, more recently. This was the first building to be demolished.

 Another view of the outbuildings near Skippack. The two I showed yesterday are in front, while a third one can be seen in between the two. Unlike the near two, this one was built new in 1970. This is the only building from the original part of the center that is not supposed to be demolished, since it still holds offices. The website shows this building as being halfway empty, though.

 I thought this would be the best picture I would get of the abandoned part of the interior, but thankfully, I was wrong. More on that coming up later this weekend. (Geez, I took a lot of photos of this place!)

 This seems like a more fitting main entrance for a store/office. Through the courtyard, I got a picture of this wall from the other side coming up tomorrow as we finally conclude this stour.

 The remnants of somebody's sign. If anyone could identify the diamond part of the logo, that would be great. I'm guessing it might have been Springhouse Publishing.

 One of the offices had an unusual balcony tacked onto the side. That wall sure cuts out a lot of the view. The original barn building ends around where the big tree is. The center's driveway ran between the two rows of gooseneck lamps (Which I'm happy to report were salvaged), but was rerouted in the early 2000's, when Genuardi's was built as part of Springhouse Village II.

 While walking around the building, I found this courtyard. I don't think any landscaping has been done here in an eternity. At first, I thought you could only get in here from the outside, but I found a little gate in between the buildings.

 Some serious rot going on in the ceiling above me. You can see the original barn roof sheathing exposed where the drywall has given out.

 This was an office space, which looks like it took up a significant portion of the original barn structure. The counter in front looks like a receptionist's desk, which would indicate that the main entrance to this place was through the courtyard. Doesn't seem like a great location, but I suppose an office's performance doesn't depend on foot traffic.

 The only decent interior shot I got, showing the common walkway shared by the office tenants. That flower pot looks like it must have been put there in anticipation of the ceiling falling. I'm not sure what that was supposed to accomplish, since nobody's going to be cleaning it up anyway.

 Down towards the corner of the barn, it looks like there was a smaller entrance. Given the size of this building, I'm guessing there were at least 10 tenants in the office portion alone.

Today, I'm also finally going to finish up this visit to Springhouse Village. This house was original to the farm here. It appears it has been vacant for a long time, and has fallen into really tough shape. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the longest-abandoned structure here. "I managed to sneak inside here before it was demolished and this front part pictured here was in pretty good condition inside..looks like there were offices of some kind (a florist? I believe was a former tenant) up until a couple years ago. The rest of the building was in pretty rough shape and some areas haven't appeared to have been occupied since the 1980's judging by articles left behind (some kind of carpentry shop it looked like). It's a shame they didn't try to incorporate these old structures somehow. The other unoccupied office building looks like it hadn't been vacant too long either. I really should have taken some pictures. Pretty much everything was unlocked. The whole area was fenced off, but there were several places in the fence which I could squeeze through. I was a little nervous being so close to an active strip center (people coming in and out of Starbucks, eating outside, etc.), but took the chance anyway. (I explored it over Memorial Day so I knew there wouldn't be construction/office workers nearby). I really wanted to get inside the Clemens too...they demolished it before I had a chance to return." -mbz32190

 Another Gregg Going
The Devon HHGregg is closing as well. This one opened as a Circuit City in 1996, replacing their store across the road. It was sold to Gregg when they closed. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be another buyer lined up. Update: This will be demolished in 2019 for a new apartment building.

 Rite Zone
Auto Zone managed to pull off this conversion very quickly, especially considering how much work they did. They filled in all of the diamond windows and completely gutted/rebuilt the interior, all in the course of about three months.

 Family Christian, In our Prayers
Towards the other end of the same center as Winner's Circle, Family Christian is also closing. I think this location opened not too long ago, moving from another part of the center.

 Winner's Circle Lost
Winner's Circle was a popular sports bar that was sold a couple years ago when the old owners left the restaurant proprietor business. The successor, Doc Watson's, unfortunately did not catch on, and closed last year. Last week, the former restaurant endcap space was demolished. I'm still trying to figure out what is going on here. Update: CVS has been built on the site.

Exton RadioShack Closed

Since school is already called off on account of weather for tomorrow and there probably won't be any way I can get out of the house for the next couple days, I thought I would bombard you all with some local retail updates ("Updates" as of February 2017 :P) just to kill some time.

With RadioShack's most recent and probably last bankruptcy, the Exton and King of Prussia Mall stores have fallen victim. I snagged this picture yesterday, which was coincidentally their last day of business. It was all closed up this afternoon.

Patient First-In-Line

Despite all these closures, there is some good news, too: Patient First is coming close to opening in Downingtown. Construction began here last fall in a mostly unused corner of the Home Depot parking lot. The space they were working with looked tiny when construction first began, but they managed to put up a decently sized building.

CVS, Lansdale, PAThis opened in 2008, so it must have been one of the first stores to be built with this look. I'm not sure if the red detailing was standard in early versions of this design, or if it was just done to match the rest of the center.

 Univest/Citadel, Lansdale, PA
...and speaking of the former location, here's where it was. Citadel usually recycles old banks, so I'm not sure why they chose to rebuild this location.

 McDonald's, Lansdale, PA
This was a 90's location that was remodeled to the current prototype around 2012. They did a lot of work on this, even changing out the brick. If it weren't for it having the footprints of the building before and after the remodel matching, I would have assumed it was a total rebuild.

Univest, Lansdale, PAThis opened in 2011, replacing a now-demolished site across the street.

 Shoprite, Lansdale, PA
This opened in 2011 on a vacant lot in front of the Hatfield Meats headquarters. By Shoprite standards, this store is incredible. If all of their stores were like this, I wouldn't mind shopping there.

 Customer service desk, situated between the main entrance and checkout. I think this is another standard Shoprite design.

 They had a prepared foods bar on the side of produce. It smelled amazing, especially since I hadn't eaten all day. I can't remember why, but I stopped at Wawa for lunch instead afterwards instead.

 Bakery. The décor here looked like a cross between a Wegman's and a Clemens. Fancy, to say the least.

 Tiny butcher shop window. Most of their meats were packaged.

 Frozen aisles had flatscreens above them. They would mostly play ads for products the store carries.

 Looking across the front. Each aisle had a wooden endcap and a spotlight. I think those spotlights must be standard in every Shoprite. I know a few stores with different owners that have the same ones.

 Some very fancy checkouts. The register lights are nicer than any store I've been in.

 This store's pharmacy was in an island on its own, located a couple of aisles into the store.

 Finishing up this quick tour with a picture of one of the aisle markers. I liked how they gave the name of the owner, KJM Family Markets, as well as saying Shoprite on them. This is the only store I have seen this at.

 ACME, Lansdale, PA
ACME originally opened a store here in the 50's. It was remodeled in the 70's. They gave up on the old store around 1993 and closed it. The building sat vacant for a couple years until ACME (who must have still owned the property) returned, razing the old building and starting again from scratch. Update: This closed in 2018.

 King's/Ames/Big Lots, Lansdale, PA
This opened in 1962 with the shopping center as a King's Department Store, which was sold to Ames in the mid 80's. That closed with the chain and was turned into Big Lots not long after.

Former Restaurant?, Lansdale, PAThis was the vacant storefront adjacent to the Clemens. No clue what it was, but it looks like maybe a bar/restaurant. It has been closed since at least 2013, but I'm definitely thinking earlier.

 Wawa, Lansdale, PA
Coffee counter. The wood used here is a bit darker than in most stores with this look.

It was raining really hard, so I wasn't able to get a good picture of the exterior. It has the (thankfully) short-lived box design on the outside, and their standard late-00's look on the inside. This design was rolled out about the same time as they started using LED lighting (in 2011). This store must have been one of the earliest ones, since it still has fluorescents. They didn't bother replacing all of the parking lot lighting when the chain made the switch, since this store was only a couple months old.

 CVS, Lansdale, PA
This opened in the early 2000's. The signage here looks a little small, which makes me think there are some restrictions on sizes here. The trees in the parking lot have grown impressively large.

 Mobil/Citgo/Exxon, Lansdale, PA
Judging by the scars on the roof, I would say the cupola was there until recently. Despite that, I would say Exxon has been here since the 80's at least. That is some seriously old signage. The canopy, on the other hand, is new.

 Sunoco/Amoco/BP, Trooper, PA
This is certainly a unique conversion. Amoco/BP did a nice job converting the old service center.

Exxon, Trooper, PA
This station hasn't sold gas in a long time. It has been an auto dealer for at least a decade. There are never many cars in the lot, but somehow they are staying in business. They've done a great job maintaining the building.