Shamokin' Hot

Now it's time for the fifth and final installment of my Journey up the Schuylkill! This time, we'll be looking mainly at Anthra Plaza Shopping Center in Shamokin, as well as a few other miscellaneous stores in the area.

A&P/Boyer's/Save-A-Lot/Dollar General, Mt. Carmel, PA
For the number of times this place has changed hands, I'm amazed the exterior has been preserved so well. I can't find when it closed, but I would assume it was the early 80's. As far as I'm aware, it did not reopen as a SuperFresh. Regional supermarket chain Boyer's moved in not long after. They relocated to the town's former ACME in 1997 (Like the one we saw last week, it was sold to Bi-Lo who didn't last long), and this then became a short-lived Save-A-Lot. Dollar General has been here since the early 2000's.

Turkey Hill, Mt. Carmel, PA
This looks like an 80's location, meaning the gas station was likely an Amoco originally. It was built in the parking lot of the A&P seen above and takes up almost all of it, which makes me think maybe it was built between the time A&P closed and Boyers opened.

Gulf, Mt. Carmel, PA
I'm assuming this was built as a Gulf in the 1930's. I've seen other stations with this design before (in brick though- they might have tacked on the siding later), but I haven't found any historic photos of one in operation so I'm not positive who built them. It was still operating as a Gulf as recently as 2008, but went independent not long after. 70+ years is an incredibly long run for a gas station to go under the same brand.

Danny's Drive-In, Ashland, PA
Ashland only has two fast food burger options, Danny's and May's, both of which are Drive-Ins. This time we tried Danny's, who has been here since 1949- honestly the food was mediocre but the price was good and the atmosphere was neat. They also had At the time we visited, it was still owned by the founder's son. It was sold to somebody else when he retired the following year, so I might have to come here again. The menu's grown considerably under the new ownership, they offer a lot more in terms of full meals. I was disappointed to see a couple of the more dated items- like winterberry shakes- had been dropped, but pleased to see they kept fried perogies, the coal region staple.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they've never redone the inside. This looks like it could be from 1949, right?

Ashland State Hospital/St. Catherine's Medical Center, Ashland, PA
While the present building is from 1967, this hospital's history goes back to 1879. It was originally chartered as a state hospital. The "state hospital" term usually refers to mental asylums, but this was just a general hospital. Pennsylvania began closing and selling most of their state-run hospitals in the 80's; this one was sold in 1992 and became the Ashland Regional Medical Center. In 2006, it was sold again and became St. Catherine's. I'm assuming they were part of a health system or at least a larger religious order, but I can't find anything else connected to this. The hospital was shut down by the health department in 2012. After a few years or sitting in limbo, they officially announced they would not be reopening in 2015 and sold the building. It remains abandoned.

Anthra Plaza, Shamokin, PA

This center first opened in the early 70's and was anchored by A&P and Jamesway, both of which we'll be taking a closer look at today. Even though it's mostly occupied (ballpark 60%), it's one of the most decrepit centers I've seen. 

We're starting out with the smaller strip of stores separate from the main center, which still had a DMV, an auto tag store, Domino's, and some sketchy medical offices. The three vacant spaces were what I believe were an insurance office, barber shop, and one totally nondescript space.

The space on the end was in deplorable condition. This is the one I think was most recently an insurance office. Frankly I'm surprised anything is still allowed to operate in this building, especially medical offices.

The roof's just gone over part of it. This should be condemned. I would not trust a pizza made in this building.

The other end is in marginally better shape, but that's not saying much.

The medical center was next to the insurance office, and the barber shop was next to that. Inside, there's not too much to see. Just the chair... or wait, is there?

Some Finast-brand batteries were left in the window! Finast was at one point its own store chain owned by Ahold. Their stores were absorbed into Ahold's Tops (now independent) and Edwards (later absorbed into Stop & Shop) chains in the 90's. Despite that, their name was still used for Ahold's store brand products until the early 2000's. I figure these came from one of the Pottsville Giants originally.

Looking over between the center's two buildings. The main building is to the left and is much more interesting, if you couldn't already tell by the Radioshack sign or the fact that we haven't seen either anchor yet.

Let's start off with the old A&P- it's one of their later colonial-style stores and remains a beautifully preserved example of one. If I were to guess, I'd say it closed in the 80's. The right half of it is now a Dollar General, while the left was most recently M&L. I have no clue what that was, but the name is still hand-painted on the window above the door.

Take a moment to appreciate the fact that they still have the decorative brackets up under the awning and that the incandescent spotlights were never replaced with fluorescent strips.

Looking in what would have been A&P's main entrance. The vestibule's finishings sure look like they could be original.

The mirrors would indicate M&L was a clothing store. Not saying it looks especially nice in here, but the finishes look customized enough I have to wonder if there was a chain store here in between them and A&P. Nobody with a handmade sign would put this much effort into the interior. My first thought was that since the wall shared with Dollar General isn't finished, they had subdivided the space after M&L moved out- however, the fact that there's drywall along the top and no disturbance to the floor or ceiling tile says otherwise. Instead, I'm thinking there was some kind of paneling (or full-wall fixture?) along this side that got removed.

Despite their sign being more or less visible, this Radioshack's been gone much longer than 3 or 4 years. Cingular has been gone since AT&T bought BellSouth in 2006 (Ironically two years prior, Cingular had acquired AT&T's then-struggling wireless division).

Sprint's old logo also makes an appearance here! This Radioshack seemed to have a much larger focus on cell phones than I remember them being- maybe this has something to do with it closing back before cell stores became so common. Sprint and Cingular might not have had their own stores in the area.

At this point I'm sure some of you were worried I didn't have a further-away picture of the outside. Don't worry, I gotcha- you can even see some of the holes from A&P's sign towards the peak. Unfortunately, I somehow neglected to get one of the old Jamesway. 

Jamesway closed this location a few years before the chain went under. Weis took over the space in the early 90's and opened it under their discount Scot's Lo-Cost banner. They began phasing the Scot's name out in the 2000's; in 2011 this was one of the final two to rebrand to a Weis. That conversion was supposed to come with a full remodel, but this location really only got new butcher and bakery signs. The rest is still Scots' decor, which matches their logo (and yes, the picture linked is this store). I believe this is the only surviving example of it, too.

The remodel added some new wallpaper around the border of the butcher's awning.

The fluorescent lighting might have also been done during the remodel. Weis used to use mercury vapor lighting in all of their stores, but switched around the time this one converted. Seeing how quickly Weis has been switching over to LED's now I wouldn't be surprised if these were replaced again.

I guess the new wallpaper might make this look marginally less dated. I don't know what this awning would have had originally, but I'm theorizing it was blue neon based on what we're going to see at the pharmacy soon.

This décor was used concurrently with Weis' pastel look. It's totally different at first glance but I think I'm starting to see a little similarity in the flooring pattern the longer I look at it.

The angled names sorta remind me of Kroger's Bauhaus décor, which ironically uses the same colors as the Pastel look.

The front wall of the store, which I am willing to bet used to say Scot's Lo-Cost. Possibly in neon too, if there are any other similarities with the Pastel look. Weis never bothered to put up an interior logo. 

The Pharmacy still had a hanging neon sign, which is another similarity to the Pastel look. Design-wise it would be weird for them to only have one neon sign in the décor, which is why I'm speculating some of the signs that got updated or removed used to have some. Since these use energy and require some upkeep, it makes sense why the two departments they "remodeled" could have had some.

There were three stores to the left of Weis- an Italian Restaurant, a Rent-to-Own, and a space that's been empty at least the past 15 years. The Italian restaurant, Two Guys from Italy, looks like it's been here since the beginning. I'm relatively certain Jamesway was original to the center, but the restaurant's name makes me wonder if it started out as a Two Guys (from Harrison) department store. Update: Turns out it was originally Grant's. Thanks Catnapped for the info!

The vacant space isn't looking too hot. One of the windows is busted out and almost boarded up all the way. Some weather's probably getting in through there.

All things considered, the interior doesn't look as bad as I was expecting. The space is being used for storage by somebody, but this is such an odd mix of stuff (toys, pallets of cement, a tea set, a forklift, Christmas decorations...) I can't even guess who's doing it.

Parting shot from the driveway, which includes the best view of the front of the Weis I got this visit. :/

Burger King, Shamokin, PA

This location opened in 1981 as an outparcel to the Kmart. It made it up to 2018 almost totally unaltered. Unfortunately for us retail geeks, it was torn down for a new location that Summer. I would usually be upset losing a neat old restaurant like this, but honestly it's just nice seeing some major reinvestment in a town like this. 2018 also brought an Aldi to town; I'm not exaggerating when I say these were the first two new buildings the town's gotten in a decade.

Kmart, Shamokin, PA

This location opened alongside the Burger King in 1981, and closed its doors in 2000. It sat abandoned for several years before being bought by some locals who wanted to redevelop the property. There is no definite plan for the site yet, but earlier this year they made the first step in the process by tearing this down.

Texaco, Kulpmont, PA

The station here closed in 2004 when Texaco pulled out of the region. It sat empty until it was mostly demolished in 2017. For whatever reason, they kept the canopy frame and garage bays up.

Turkey Hill, Kulpmont, PA

If I were to guess I'd say that like the Mt. Carmel one, this is also an 80's store that had a gas station added in later. It's weird seeing a gas station like this in the middle of town, since basically everything else here fronts the street.

Arthur Treacher's/Village Towne, Mt. Carmel, PA

Village Towne mainly occupies the former Pizza Hut next door as their restaurant, but has turned this building into a banquet hall for special events. Their website advertises that they've been open since 1986, and given how well preserved both of these buildings are I'd say they've been here the entire time. For as trashy as this looks and sounds, their menu actually seems pretty nice. It's comfort food, as you'd expect, but looks nicer than your typical "greasy spoon" fare.

Friendly Choice Food Mart, Mt. Carmel, PA

This was formerly a Choice convenience store. I would have thought they picked the new name so they wouldn't have to get a new sign, but the fact that they scraped the Choice logo off the awning says otherwise.

Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine, Ashland, PA

This shaft mine was first opened in 1911 by the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company. It was sealed in 1931 with all the equipment left inside in hopes of reopening the mine after the Depression ended, but by that point more efficient methods of mining had been developed. It sat sealed until the town bought it in 1962. They reopened it as a tourist attraction, since fully furnished shaft mines aren't exactly a common thing to have lying around. It's cool to visit unless you can't deal with tight spaces, in which case you should avoid this at all costs. You get to ride down in an actual minecart too which is exciting.

Texaco, Ashland, PA

This is by far the most intact porcelain façade Texaco I've seen so far. Not only does the facade still have the original colors, but it still has the original 1940's Service Center signage over the doors. It isn't really visible in my picture, but the screw holes from Texaco's main sign are still visible and spell out the name pretty clearly. It's spent the last few decades operating as an independent service center. 

May's Drive-In, Ashland, PA

We saw Danny's Drive-In at the beginning of the post; here's Ashland's other fast food option, May's. They've been in business since 1956, however they are a 5-location local chain and this was not their first. I'd guess this one opened sometime in the 60's. Like Danny's, it has a very "classic" interior but this looks like it was expanded and redone sometime in the 70's or 80's.

PA's coal country gives off some serious 1950's country music vibes.