The Mysterious Merchant's Square

Hey everybody! I'm back from my hiatus, which in case you haven't heard, was because my last account ran out of storage space. I tried a few things to alleviate the damage but ultimately the only solution was to create an entirely new account. :P

Anyways, here's Wonderwall the mostly dead Merchant's Square Shopping Center or Edgemoor, DE. It first opened in 1951 with Strawbridge's (pictured above) as the major anchor. In addition, it featured Acme, Woolworth, and JCPenney as minor anchors. In 1954, it was expanded adding Horn & Hardart, Eckerd, a second Acme (which coexisted with the 1951 one for several years), and several more inline stores. The center went into decline in the 80's after Strawbridge's relocated to the Concord Mall. The store sat vacant from 1983 until its demolition in 2009. It was followed by Eckerd and Acme the following year. Most of the center was empty by the end of the decade, and despite a couple renewal attempts, remains that way today.

 This was the original shopping center, featuring Acme on the left endcap, Woolworth on the corner, and JCPenney in the largest storefront. Management offices were on the top of the 2-story part on the right.

 The 2009 renewal attempt added a Food Lion on the site of the former Strawbridge's, which is one of their two locations in the Philadelphia market. Around this time, they also redid the parking lot and added a Family Dollar in the existing center,

 This is the first and so far only Food Lion I have photographed. It was a decent store but nothing too exciting. It was also quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, my estimate would be around 30-40k square feet.

 It's definitely not the blandest decor I've seen but I definitely wouldn't call it budget-busting. I think their remodel wave's supposed to hit their northernmost locations next year so I'll have to revisit then and see if it's any more interesting.

 I'm not sure if the retail photography community already assigned this decor a name, but I'm gonna call it the Farmer's Market decor.

 The decor on the produce side of the store was a little more interesting. I'm a fan of the lattice holding the spotlights, it's very similar to what Clemens used to do.

 Bakery and deli were along the same wall as Produce. As flat as the decor looks, I appreciate they tried to give it some texture with the wallpaper.

 Looking along the back of the store again. I'm not sure how I walked around the store because my pictures are really jumping all over the place.

 Finishing off the stour with a look down the side opposite the bakery and deli. I had some more pictures but a lot of them didn't come out great. Regardless I'd call this a successful visit.

 The Family Dollar, which also opened as part of the 2009 revitalization in the bottom of the old office part. I'm not sure if anything's being done on the second floor, but they bricked in the windows up there when they opened. This was also the only part of the existing center to have the facade redone.

This was the JCPenney, which I couldn't find a closing date for but going by the condition of the building I'd say no later than the 90's. The exterior is still in presentable shape, but the inside is another story.

The glass doors were miraculously unbroken and uncovered, giving us a little look inside. You can't see too much of the sales floor, but it looks like water is definitely getting in. That wire hanging down was attached to a light that fell out of the ceiling.

Looking in through the other door. Despite not being able to see much inside I thought this space was pretty exciting.

Looking down to the Acme/Woolworth end of the building. Most of the inline stores on the side closer to me had been gutted out, but thankfully the anchors were left intact. The far side inline stores weren't gutted out but somebody covered over the windows.

Woolworth's logo was still cast into the terrazzo outside the store. I'm assuming nobody's occupied the store since they closed, which given the overall presentable condition of the store was probably at the very end in 1997.

The space is technically vacant, but is being used as a warehouse for a used furniture dealer. I did take the opportunity to buy a chair from here on a subsequent visit just so I could get inside.

A second logo by the other entrance. This was the original location of the store's entrance, although at some point they expanded into the adjacent space and turned that into their main entrance.

The part of the center that Woolworth expanded into. I'm not sure who the original tenant was but this facade was probably left over from them.

The lettering on the door handles remind me of Woolworth's 1960 logo (below). This would also indicate the store expanded sometime in the 60's or early 70's.

Most of the doors still have magic carpets out front. I tried them out, but they don't work.

Looking into the expanded section of Woolworth. There's not much decor but it's still interesting.

Acme had between the end of the building and where the smaller square windows start. It coexisted with the newer store at the opposite end of the center for about a decade, but was closed by the late 60's. After that, it was divided up between a few smaller stores with Save-A-Lot taking up the majority. It was empty again by 2000.

One of the inline stores with covered-up windows. I guess you can see a little bit through the top.

Part of the former Acme. Whoever was here after they closed redid it, but retained the half-circle thing over what was either the entrance or exit. The other corner of the building would have probably been the opposite.

Looking towards the Save-A-Lot side of the Acme, which is in worse shape than the part we just saw. It's been vacant a while longer, which we'll see evidence of shortly.

This side hasn't been changed up too much since the Acme days. All SAL really did was swap out the decor. The stripes along the top of the wall are left over from them.

The unfinished wall on the side of the building would indicate that at one point SAL had more if not all of the old Acme, and the part on the other side of the store was carved out at some point after they closed.

On the corner of the store there's another curved part of the ceiling like we saw before.

If I were to guess, I'd say this was Acme's main entrance, as opposed to the subdivided section's entrance. I think the tower would have been much taller originally, and the green roof would have been flat. I'd guess they redid the facade in the 70's.

Let's head around back, shall we?

This is the back of the 1954 part of the center. There's a gym in this endcap which is the only remaining pre-2009 tenant.

This was bad timing on my part. A large section from the middle of the 1954 part was in the process of being demolished for a new dd's Discounts. I didn't realized this was planned so there's a chance I missed out on some 80's store interiors that would have been here. :(
At least I got a brick from here.

I'm not quite sure what was going on here. There was no construction equipment on site but demolition was only half-complete. dd's was almost finished by the time I returned a just a few months later though.

That's got to be the cleanest-looking demolition site I've ever seen.

The front of the building was left entirely intact for this part of the demolition, along with the roof girders. It's really weird seeing one unsupported on the end.

The back of the 1954 Acme, which closed in the mid-80's, shortly after Strawbridge's ditched. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the front, but it's a Big Lots now. It was supposed to become a Marshall's in the 90's, which never actually opened but somehow got close enough that they had a sign up on the building.

The edge of the building, which was originally a Horn & Hardart Automat. Acme expanded into there probably in the 70's.

Horn & Hardart's former entrance, which despite the rotting wood is one of the few spaces here that's occupied as part of Big Lots.

Former Eckerd, which closed in 1984. Amazingly, nobody's occupied the space since then. I wish they didn't board up the windows because I really want to see inside.

Front of where DD's is now. I'm surprised the windows are still mostly in one piece.

They gave this place a facelift at one point, the covering on the underside of the awning was put up over the existing  recessed lighting and the box lights were set up instead. Once the siding was pulled down, the old lights were uncovered once again.

Some places were boarded up, others weren't. Knowing my luck, there were some perfectly preserved stores here that hadn't been touched since the 80's up until right before I visited. :P

The address listed here is for a Pepboys, but I feel like this was too small for one. Knowing it's probably been about 30 years since this place moved, I'm guessing whoever they were came and went before Pepboys took over the space.

Some more storefronts leading to nowhere.

I believe the demolition stopped where the siding under the awning starts up again.

I believe the abandoned buildings across the street were also part of the center. This theater opened in 1968 showing The Odd Couple, and closed its doors in 1980 with The Exterminator. It has sat empty ever since then but has remained remarkably intact. Unfortunately, it was boarded up more tightly after those pictures were taken so I couldn't get any for myself.

Next door to CineMart was a Firestone, which probably opened around the same time. The building seems like it's in better shape so I'd guess this was open sometime more recently. I'd guess they shut down in the 90's.