Strip Malls of South Philly

 Welcome back! Today, we're going to be taking a walk down Columbus Blvd and seeing the sights- which are mainly strip malls, but fortunately that's what you're most likely here for.

Old Swede's Church, Southwark

Dating all the way back to 1699, this is the fourth-oldest building left in the city (After the Boelson Cottage, the Fox Chase Tavern, and Wynnestay). It was first built by early Swedish settlers as a Lutheran church, but was changed to an Episcopal church in 1845. Despite being over 300 years old, it is still an active parish and holds masses every Sunday and Tuesday.

Avalon Flooring, Pennsport

Usually when you see places like this anchoring small strip malls, they were passed down from a traditional anchor. I was sure that was the case here, but upon further inspection it would appear this was actually always Avalon.

Pep Boys also had a pretty large space next door. My thought was that they and Avalon split up a larger anchor, but that's not the case. Most of the center was built in the early 90's, but Pep Boys was actually added on later in the decade.

Riverview Plaza, Pennsport

While it looks quite a bit different than the two stores we just saw and is separated from them by an I-95 access ramp, this is actually all part of the same center. Staples took up the part on the left, and the part seen here contains two smaller stores with offices above. Performance Bicycle has since closed and I believe the offices are vacant now, but Staples and Verizon are still open for now. Plans call for this section of the center to come down for a much taller mixed-use development soon.

I stumbled across an old A&P America's Choice matchbook on the sidewalk while checking out the center. These pictures are kinda old, but A&P had already been gone for over two years at this point so it was an unusual find.

The shopping center is broken up once again by Reed Street. The third, southernmost part features an old firehouse in the back corner, was incorporated into the center as a steakhouse. They went out of business sometime before 2009, and the landlord was unable to get a new tenant to fill the space. They filed for demolition permits in 2013 with the intent of replacing this with a Checkers drive-thru. The historical commission somehow approved it, but there was enough community backlash that they cancelled those plans. Now, in a weird twist of fate, the center's redevelopment plans call for tearing down everything except the firehouse.

The inside looked a little stripped out, but there's enough left to give you a feel for what the steakhouse was like.

They were also not the only vacancy in that part of the center. This easy-to-miss former eatery was tucked in the corner too. It closed in 2012. Judging by the way the bottom foot of drywall is cut out, they may have had some flooding problems.

This part of the center was anchored by a United Artists theater. Most of the bottom floor was split up between restaurants, while the upper level was a Calumet Photographic that closed following their 2014 bankruptcy filing. The theater and Warmdaddy's were the only tenants left following their departure. Warmdaddy's (which I had heard many good things about and really wanted to try) closed last summer in preparation for the redevelopment, while the theater (which was intended to stay open until a future phase of the project) closed a few months ago due to the lockdowns. Most likely, they'll demolish the whole thing at once now. If you were wondering about the light poles on the roof, that's because the theater featured rooftop parking when it first opened. They added a second floor of auditoriums in the late 90's, getting rid of the extra lot. The center has plenty of parking behind it, as they own everything under the I-95 viaduct.

I have no idea what this place was, but it looked interesting. It's been vacant since the 2007 Streetview and is totally gutted out inside, leaving no clue what it could have been.

Modell's, Pennsport

Mo's opened with the shopping center in the mid-80's, and shut down with the rest of the chain last year. It was a fairly large location, but it looks like the space should be easy enough to subdivide if they can't find someone to take the whole thing. This corner of the city is basically Philly's big-box retail capitol, so I doubt it will stay empty for too long.

John's Roast Pork, Whitman

In the middle of all the stores, you can find hole-in-the-wall John's Roast Pork, which has some of the best sandwiches in the city. They've been here since 1930. For most of their existence, they were surrounded by rail yards and warehouses. The workers were their main clientele. As this area developed following the collapse of the railroads, regular shoppers started to catch on. Now, they've almost always got a line going out the door.

IHOP, Whitman

IHOP opened at the end of the Modell's shopping center in 2005, completely redoing it in the process. Originally, it would have looked just like Mo's did.

Champps/Miller's, Whitman

Champp's sports bar opened with the center here in 2005. They were one of the several casual dining chains to explode in the early 2000's only to shrink back considerably a few years later. This closed during their first bankruptcy in 2013. The company survived a second in 2016, but is now down to six locations total. Local sports bar chain Miller's took over the space and opened in 2017.

Longhorn, Whitman

Like Champp's, this opened in 2005 with the center. Unlike Champp's, hasn't changed much over the years.

Chick-Fil-A, Whitman

I must have been trying to go for a creative shot here by trying to get the SS United States in. That backfired, since it doesn't show much of the restaurant. :/ Anyway, Chick-Fil-A also opened in 2005. It was given a massive remodel and expansion in 2017.

Pier 70 Center, Pennsport

You may recall my coverage of the South Philly SuperFresh when it closed in 2015. Today, we're going to be following up on that as well as checking out the rest of the center. The center began a major façade renovation in 2017, changing out the old pink and beige with white and gray. The vacant space on the right here later became a Chipotle.

As for the old SuperFresh itself, the 2/3 of it on the left was split up between a TJMaxx and a HomeGoods, while the remainder was left unaltered until they found a new tenant. Planet Fitness opened later that year, and kept the facade mostly intact. They really only changed the color and added some paneling to it.

Decals for A&P's Eight O'Clock Cafe were left up for the time being.

The inside had been completely gutted, though. Since the Produce area had an open ceiling, you can see where it used to be.

It's looking a little worse for the wear here. Hopefully Planet Fitness was able to clean this up some.

TJ Maxx carved their entrance right in the middle to the store. I'm really not sure how I feel about this new look, but at least its a clean one.

HomeGoods got the side opposite the original entrance. Their façade is mostly identical to TJ Maxx's.

And here's both of them from across the parking lot.

Walmart stands across the parking lot. It opened as a normal store in the 90's, but was expanded to a SuperCenter in 2014. They remodeled again in late 2018. 

Home Depot is right next door. It is also an original tenant to the center. For a Home Depot, it falls on the smaller end of the spectrum. When the equipment rental center was added, they had to enclose part of the porch to fit it in. It's also home to the best hardware store hotdog stand I've ever had- Rocco's Italian Sausage and Cheesesteaks. It's very South Philly. Despite its awesome food, I'm not really a fan of this location. Inside, it looks like somebody just dumped the entire lumber section on the floor and left it. That's not an exaggeration. I was here helping my friend fix his deck, and I literally had to climb over piles of wood to get to the kind we needed.

AAA, Pennsport

I had never seen a AAA garage in my life before about 5 years ago. Now they seem to be popping up everywhere. This one was built here in 2016 on the site of an old contractor's office.

Corn Exchange National Bank, Old City

This is one of my favorite buildings in Old City. The shorter part was first built in 1900, and was expanded a few times over the years to feature more offices and a clock tower. Girard Bank had taken over the Corn Exchange by the 1950's. They were bought out by Mellon in 1983, and Citizens Bank in the 90's. By the time Citizen's closed in 2017, they had scaled back down to their original 1900 footprint. The expansions had been taken over by restaurants on the ground level and offices above. Chase opened in the old Citizens spot in 2019.

Independence Hall, Old City

While very touristy, this is one of my favorite places in the city because of its history. It was originally built as the Pennsylvania State House in 1753, but by the time of the revolution it became home to the Second Continental Congress. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed here. It is the only building outside of DC to be featured on the back of any currency. 

Future Wawa, Old City

Frankly, I was expecting Wawa to keep way more of the interior intact than the did. I guess it's good I got these pictures for posterity at least. The deli counter is in back here now, and it appears they've gotten rid of both that rear door and window.

The space next door was also combined into the Wawa. It's a little less architecturally interesting. The ceiling here is the best part and they kept that intact. The rear windows here also appear to have been removed, since drink coolers now line the back wall.

Strawbridge's/Century 21, East Market

Strawbridge's opened their flagship store at 8th and Market in 1868, in a building that was once home to Thomas Jefferson's offices. Over the years, they expanded a few times. The 5-story addition seen here is the only surviving part of the original complex, as in 1928 they decided to demolish the original store and most of its additions to make way for their new art deco 13-story store (to the right of the part pictured). There's not much history on the surviving expansion, but chances are it dates back to the 1800's. It may have been built by somebody else and Strawbridge's just expanded into it. They used the building up until the store shut down in 2006. The upper floors then became relocated offices for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the lower two sat vacant until Century 21 opened in 2014. As you probably remember, Century 21 went under as a result of the coronavirus. There are tentative plans to relaunch it though, so maybe this will reopen.

McDonald's/Panda Express, East Market

McDonald's operated out of this building from the 70's or 80's up until 2015. They had signage going all the way up the front, indicating they may have occupied the entire building at one point, but by the end they were just on the first floor. The second floor was then home to a psychic, but both it and the third floor had been empty for years and showing signs of decay by the time McDonald's closed. Panda Express opened here in 2017, totally redoing the building. I don't know what exactly they're doing with the upper floors, but I can tell you at least the second level is occupied. Most of the windows were removed from the third floor, so that's still a mystery.

Sprint, Rittenhouse Square

This space is at the bottom of 1700 Market, one of the city's larger office towers. Despite its prominent address, it sits in the back of a rarely used courtyard on the less-traveled 17th Street side. That's most likely why they relocated to a space that actually fronts Market Street in 2015. However, there are plans to build out into the courtyard soon so they could have also been kicked out in preparation for that. 

There's not really too much to see inside. Maintenance seems to be using this space for storage now. I am very curious what this place started out as. The building dates back the the 60's so obviously it wasn't always a phone store. The high ceilings imply it was something grand, but maybe that's just taking advantage of the building height.

There are two songs with this name. One is by Jason DeRulo and I absolutely hate it. This one's by Poison and I really like it.