Heading up to Boyertown

Sorry for the break in posting- I was sick last weekend and incredibly busy the weekend before that, but now we're back up and running! Today will mainly be pictures from the Boyertown/Gilbertsville area, but I'm gonna start off with a few miscellaneous shots.

 SuperFresh/Lomax, North Coventry, PA
The old Coventry Mall SuperFresh finally got a new tenant after sitting empty for 7 years. This store originally opened in the 80's in a Pathmark that never actually opened (Ironically the two became the same company about 20 years later). Now, it is home to what is probably the largest flooring center I have ever seen.

 The Gardens Met Their Waterloo
Work has begun on the old Waterloo Gardens site. The parking lot and foundations were finally ripped out, but thankfully they chose to save the tree that used to stand in front. There are a few other trees they saved around the property too, but this one is a local landmark (at least to former Waterloo customers).

 Roofless
The removal of the old brown roof from the Lionville Hampton Inn is complete. It already looks a thousand times better than it did before, though that's not saying much.

 BankRueptcy
Rue 21 at the Exton Mall was given the boot when the chain filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017. The space is one of the relatively few new vacancies that Exton's been able to fill- just not with a store. This space is now home to the Exton Chess Academy, which is exactly what it sounds like.

 *Crickets*
Cricket opened here in 2017, and as far as I'm aware is the most recent major chain to open at the mall (not counting the Whole Foods outparcel). They didn't stick around in this spot very long. Earlier this year they moved closer to the food court to the old Best Buy Mobile space.

The Precursor
The Sears Auto Center at Exton closed in 2017. The Sears itself would follow two years later. Given it freestanding location, I'm guessing this is more likely to be filled in the near future than the Sears itself. I always thought it would make a neat restaurant.

Chevrolet/Subaru, Exton, PA
Roberts Chevrolet was built in 2013 on the site of their Pontiac dealership, which for the last few years they had repurposed for used car sales. In 2017, Reedman-Toll took over the Roberts family of dealerships. Fun fact: Bruce Toll, founder of Toll Brothers, is a co-owner of Reedman-Toll. The dealership changed again earlier this year, when they decided to switch over from Chevrolet to Subaru.

Making New Roads
Preliminary work is underway for one of the new roads that will lead to the development on the Waterloo Gardens site. From the looks of it, the field along Lancaster Ave will be kept otherwise open for now.

Staples, Downingtown, PA
Staples opened this location in the mid-90's. You wouldn't be able to tell from the exterior, but it downsized when they remodeled in 2016, bringing the store to half its original square footage. The other half is still vacant. I'm guessing they're waiting until someone else signs a lease before they alter the façade.

Hardee's/Argento's, Boyertown, PA

I'm fairly certain this building was built as something else, but from what I heard this was a Hardee's that closed in the early 2000's. It later became Argento's, an Italian restaurant, who added the second story.

Sunoco/Mama Maria's Sign, Boyertown, PA
Sunoco closed here several years ago. The station (which actually appears to have been built as a house) has since been turned into an Italian restaurant, who interestingly chose to reuse the 60's-era Sunoco sign frame.

ACME/CVS, Boyertown, PA
ACME opened here in the late 60's and closed when Albertsons bought the chain. CVS moved into most of the space in 2001 from their original location elsewhere in the center. Their former location opened as ACME's sister pharmacy chain Rea & Derick, which CVS bought off them in the 80's.

Grant's/Ames/Tractor Supply and Big Lots, Boyertown, PA
This was originally a WT Grant department store, which would have opened in the late 60's. Ames opened here in the late 70's and closed with the chain in 2002. The store sat empty up until 2012, when it was subdivided between Big Lots and TSC.

Dunkin Donuts, Boyertown, PA
This was built in 2008 as an outparcel of the existing center. It was given a light remodel in 2015, which was surprising given its age. That round of remodels seemed mainly to focus on the previous generation of stores.

M&T Bank/Argento's, Boyertown, PA
Argento's, the pizza place seen a few photos back, expanded into the former Drive-thru-only M&T Bank in the 2000's. This appears to be home to their gelato operation.

Saville's Diner, Boyertown, PA
I missed my shot of the diner, but I thought I'd include this anyway because I caught an old Domino's logo with it. Saville's opened in 1962, and is still operated by the same family. It's got mixed reviews but the prices seem great.

Getty/Domino's, Boyertown, PA
Domino's too over this former Getty station in the 2000's. Despite not having sold gas in about 20 years, you can still see where the pumps would have been.

Panda Garden, Boyertown, PA
I love the roof of this place. This restaurant actually seems like its on the more upscale side, which is a kina surprising to see in Boyertown. (Yeah that did sound a little harsh... what I mean is that Boyertown's more of a middle class blue-collar type area, not the kind of place you'd expect to see something like this).

McDonald's, Gilbertsville, PA
This restaurant opened in the 70's. Unfortunately, it was remodeled last year. What's even worse is that the playground was removed entirely and replaced with outdoor seating.

Weis, Gilbertsville, PA
Sorry this picture didn't come out. I really should start checking my photos before I leave places. :P
This location opened in the 80's and retained its original look including the yellow logo up until 2012. They were at one point considering moving to the former Boyertown Ames, but evidently those plans fell through so they remodeled this one instead.

Produce had a lower ceiling over it. At first I thought it was an expansion, but those air vents certainly look original to the store.

This store, like most Weis locations, has their 2004-2015 décor. Prior to this, it had the early 90's pastel décor.

Overall they did a pretty thorough job remodeling. It didn't look nearly as dated inside as I was expecting it to.

To give you an idea of the store's size, I was standing at the back of the aisle here, which was probably about 15-20 feet from the back wall of the store. The main part of the store was probably about twice as wide as it was deep.

The actual bakery was by the produce department. I thought it was strange how Bread had its own alcove on the opposite corner of the store.

Rax/Dairy Queen, Gilbertsville, PA
This restaurant opened in the 80's as a Rax Roast Beef. It was replaced by Dairy Queen several years ago, but still looks more or less the same as it would have when it opened.

Car Wash, Gilbertsville, PA
I'm positive this was a chain of car washes at some point in history. I know of several with this exact roof, and it's a distinct enough design I'm sure it wasn't just a coincidence.

Bank?, Gilbertsville, PA
I've seen identical brick archways on the front of several buildings in the area, making me think it was a chain of something. A lot of them are banks now, so I'm assuming that's what it was. This is one of the exceptions, it's now a salon. The two different rooflines indicate the exterior was probably redone at some point, and the steeper roofing material was used to cover up a second story. Perhaps this was built as a house?

Future Mattress Warehouse, Pottstown, PA
This building used to be something industrial. In an interesting turn of events, the front was rebuilt and it was converted to retail. The front end is now a Mattress Warehouse, and the back is available.

This is also my first post of October, so we need something to kick off Spooky Season with!