Dead Strip Malls, Among Other Things

Around the time I got these photos, I was really on a dead strip mall kick. Maybe it was inspired by Nicholas Eckhart's coverage of the Lincoln Park Shopping Center, or maybe I was just fed up enough with back-to-school shopping that I wanted to see some stores dead; either way I set out to photograph some. I found a couple; nothing with Lincoln Park-level coolness, but I think you'll enjoy them nonetheless.

Wal-Truck
These old logo Wal-Mart trucks aren't exactly a rarity these days, but it's still exciting to spot one in traffic.

Village Cleaners, Philadelphia (University City)
This place, despite being in one of West Philly's nicer neighborhoods, has been closed for close to 20 years and is looking a little worse for the wear. Despite the apartments above it (and the unit next to it for that matter) being occupied, they've allowed some very visible structural issues to develop; at least in the retail units fronting Powelton Ave. The sign has since been removed, uncovering some more decay. As of last weekend, a few of the windows were boarded up and some of the trimwork had fallen onto the sidewalk. It's only a matter of time before the city makes them do something about it. In this case, I'm assuming it will have to be fixed up since it's in a historic district.

Pickering Valley Feed & Farm, Lionville, PA
Our local pet supply shop was expanding. Did I think to take more/better photos of the existing space? Nope. I assumed they weren't going to change anything in the original half of the store. I was very wrong. Once the addition opened, they closed the original half of the store and gutted it out too.

Looking in the expansion's windows. This space was previously split between a boutique and Lionville Natural Pharmacy. The Pharmacy moved across the street to the old Nova Bank in 2016, and the boutique relocated elsewhere in the center.

Pottstown Plaza, Pottstown, PA
I've documented the former Jamesway and Giant in the center before, but haven't shown you too much of the rest of the center yet. It opened in 1989, and is currently 2/3 vacant. Current tenants include Domino's, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, a dry cleaner, Tractor Supply, and a Dollar store. Applebee's and Fulton Bank both have outparcels here. The center was dealt a major hit in 2010 when Upland Square opened across the street, stealing both the anchors here. Almost all of the vacancies seen here have been empty since at least the 2011 Streetview. I could see them losing Tractor Supply to Upland soon too, since the AC Moore and Best Buys spaces there have recently become available.
Things are looking up... sorta. The landlord seems to be making an effort to invest in here. They repaved the parking lot and put in LED lighting recently; and have also repainted the building (badly, but at least an attempt was made). A low-budget gym and bingo place have opened here, but the center's listing still shows them as vacant. It also says Giant's still leased through 2019, so it could just be out of date.
I try to keep my blog classy enough that I'll refrain from doing it, but not classy enough to not tell you how close I came to cracking a dead stripper joke about the dead strip malls. My sense of humor was terrible to start with, but two months of limited social interaction and browsing edgy memes has taken its toll.

Full disclosure, I don't know the history of most of these inline spaces. Judging by the paint here, it was obviously some kind of store last. In late 2017, this space and the adjacent one had become Unfinished Athletics, an independent gym.

Looking down the awning towards the old Jamesway/TJ Maxx.

I'm not sure if this space was just left like this, or if they had already started work turning it into Unfinished Athletics.

Former H&R Block office next door, which is also now part of Unfinished.

Domino's has a less-than-ideal location here. I'm surprised they haven't moved elsewhere given the amount of vacant space here.

This larger space is the one with the yellow façade in my first photo. I've seen several stores with the same façade before, but I've got no idea who used it. Whatever it was left a trapezoidal labelscar. Any help would be appreciated if you recognize it. This is now a bingo center.

Another empty, fairly nondescript store.

I'm willing to bet this was an Italian restaurant. The center's vacant spaces all had fogged windows, with a small margin that was barely big enough to get photos, which is why I had to shoot through one of the neon tubes that framed the windows.

This space was Silky Cleaners back in 2011, who had more recently moved to the space next door. I'm not sure why part of the ceiling is missing, because it certainly doesn't look like they're doing any work. The center did get a new roof a year or two ago, but they should have been able to do that without pulling down any ceiling.

TJ Maxx took over about half of the former Jamesway shortly after they went under, and relocated to Upland Square. Most of the rest of the store sat vacant until Tractor Supply opened in 2009.

A tiny space between Maxx and TSC was carved out for another store.

Looking towards where Giant's entrance used to be. This must have been a high-profit store for them to expand/remodel it in the early 2000's (giving it their standard 2-tower facade), relocate less than a decade later, and continue to pay the lease for another 9 years after that.

Giant's windows were mostly boarded up, but there was a little space open at the top of each tower. From a distance you can see the Fun House V1 décor is still intact here, but by the time you get close enough it would show up on the camera the boards are covering it. :/

Giant's a separate building from the rest of the center, but they're connected by awnings.

Sad little path between Giant and the other inline store building. It looks like it would have been nice back when they still cared enough to landscape.

This was Rent-A-Center, which closed between 2009 and 2011.

The center's brochure says this is "Dollar City," although there doesn't appear to be anything here currently. I think that leasing plan must be old, since this was "Party Dollar Avenue" until 2016.

Former RadioShack, which moved to Pottstown Center (which we'll be seeing in a minute) sometime around 2009.

Applebee's is probably the most lively thing left in the center. I believe it was an original tenant, and was remodeled shortly after everything closed.

Pottstown Center, Pottstown, PA
This center's much less dead than the last one, but at the time I visited it was missing an anchor and about half its inlines. The anchor space has since been filled, but the inlines are still empty. The center was recently given a total façade renovation, so hopefully that is able to draw more stores in. This space was originally Weis, which moved here in 1995 from a 1960-built store nearby. It closed in 2013, but you can find some pictures from before on my Flickr. More recently, this has been divided between Aldi and Michael's.

Inside, Weis' early 90's pastel décor is still visible. It's not totally extinct from stores yet as far as I'm aware, but it's become incredibly hard to find.

Looking towards where Frozen used to be.

And towards produce, which was located on the other side of that island, which hosed a few of the specialty departments.

Looking down the awning. This side is where Michael's moved in.

Despite its age, I never really thought the glass tower looked that dated. Regardless, it didn't line up with Aldi's design and was torn off when they moved in.

End of the store, advertising Aldi's opening. Michael's didn't sign on until later.

Fashion Bug was one of the center's junior anchors, which closed around 2010. A small portion of it to the left here has become a Quest Diagnostics, but the rest remains intact.

Famous Footwear's been gone for at least a decade, but somehow their decal survives in the window.

The vacant side of Famous Footwear, the right half was taken over by RadioShack (really giving a point of reference as to how long this has been empty), and is now a Sprint store. T-Mobile doesn't have any nearby name-brand stores, but there is a Metro PCS in the center. It will be interesting to see if they keep them both open.

Dollar Tree was located here originally, but moved a couple spaces down in the mid-2000's. It's become a perennial Spirit Halloween.

Metro PCS looks quite a bit smaller than the Sprint, I'm guessing if T-Mobile decides to close one it will be this.

Amoco, Pottstown, PA
This station closed as an Amoco long before the BP merger, and has been operating as an independent auto center ever since. The red trim made me think Getty was here after Amoco left, but on closer inspection it looks like the auto center added it themselves.

Dempsey's/VIP Diner/Potts & Penn Diner, Pottstown, PA
Dempsey's was a small chain of about 15 diner-style restaurants located primarily in the Allentown/Lehigh Valley area. Their restaurants typically had a Howard Johnson-influenced design, which makes me think they may have bought this location from an independent diner. Dempsey's also did most of their growing in the 50's/60's, and this diner building looked like an early 40's design prior to its 2013 remodel. The last Dempsey's closed in 2002, and this had been long gone by that point. It operated as the VIP diner until it was sold in 2013. Potts & Penn Diner (I love that name, by the way) opened shortly after that, and despite totally redoing the building did an excellent job preserving its character (but for what its worth I liked the original roof better).

Goodwill Fire Co, Pottstown, PA
This firehouse was built in 1871, and was home to the fire department until 1956. It looks like it was used for retail or perhaps a restaurant after that, but it has been vacant since at least 2008. The green Serpentine façade has been partially boxed-out in plywood to prevent collapse. Serpentine was a popular building material around here in the Victorian era, but is no longer used as a building material because the same radioactive (don't worry- it's low enough energy that it won't affect people) compound that gives it that green color also causes the rocks to become weaker with time and break down if not maintained properly. Given how not only beautiful but historic this building is, I'm remaining optimistic it will be restored.

Wawa/Coventry Beer Station, North Coventry, PA
I can't find a store number for the original location, but I suspect this opened in the late 70's or early 80's. It relocated to a new building in the early 2000's, and is now home to a beer distributor who aside from a repaint has kept the building intact.

Wawa/Village Optical, Kimberton, PA
I know it would take a lot of work to turn a convenience store into an optician's office, but I was surprised to see them tack a new entryway on. It still bears a strong resemblance to its original tenant though.

Mobil/Lukoil/Cure, Kimberton, PA
This was built in the early 90's as a Mobil station, which got divested to Lukoil when they merged with Exxon. Lukoil closed in 2012 and sat vacant until 2018. After PA legalized medical marijuana, this was turned into a dispensary. They actually did a suprisingly nice job converting the building.

A Giant Development
The Phoenixville Giant axed their organic department for a wine and beer section. The more open layout and new lighting both really make the area feel nicer.

Also of note is that they took out the old Marketplace Café, since I guess there's really no point in having two different seating areas. They have since installed a Giant Direct pickup center here.

Spring City Hotel, Spring City, PA
This hotel first opened in 1892, and is one of the area's few remaining hotels from that era. I'm not sure how much use the hotel rooms get since there's really not much in Spring City aside from Pennhurst, and that's only open around Halloween. I think the main money maker for this hotel is its restaurant, which looks like it was last redone in the 80's but also retains a lot of the original 1892 design like the tin ceiling and trimwork.

(Ara-)Marked-Up
The former Marketplace Design Center in Center City Philly may have lost its iconic Wyland Whales in its conversion to Aramark's new headquarters, but it also gained 5 floors. Whales or no whales, the finished building actually looks really nice.

I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for some 80's dance music.