#schuylkill mall

[the-retail-archives]

The beautiful original fountains of the Schuylkill Mall, while a sight to behold, were not one to hear. They were reportedly filled in and used as planters less than 10 years after being installed, because the noise drew complaints from surrounding tenants.

[the-gone-ton]

My mind is blown. I was re-watching some of Dan Bell’s Dead Mall Series and flipped my lid when, in his video on the Schuylkill Mall, his camera panned past the vacant store seen here in the first picture. It’s an exact match for this abandoned retail space that I captured on my trip just last month (Jan 2019) in the painfully 70′s and quite dead Westgate Mall. It’s a huge store, and with a facade like that I’ve been very interested about what this place was. My theory is that it was a restaurant, just based on the look. The last proper tenant that has held this space was a store called the Art and Drafting Connection, which shut down in early 2011. It had occupied that spot for at least a decade. The store from Dan’s video has a labelscar, but I can’t make it out… SOME business that REALLY liked wood paneling was opening a lot stores in malls from 1973 (when Westgate opened) to 1980 (when Schuylkill opened) in eastern/central Pennsylvania, and dammit I wanna know what it was!

[westhazleton]

Schuylkill Mall commercial - mid 90s.

[parttimereporter]

This was taken of me and my son after a movie at the Schuylkill Mall last night.. the fog was immense and thick.. and while we were laughing it would appear we were heading into a foreboding jungle of horror..

And on that note, this coming week, the potential final chapter of the mall arrives.

The auction is on Tuesday.

A Pittsburgh mall just told for a mere $100 bucks. No telling what will happen Tuesday..

[deadmallrats]

This is a major blast from the past.. major being before even shopping malls killed main street USA.

This is an image of Joe Popson’s store in Centralia, PA.. meat, groceries.. tobacco. 

Eventually the town of Centralia got destroyed by a coal mine fire, the coal region main street stores got killed by the Schuylkill Mall. And today? The Schuylkill Mall is wreckage on the ground, torn down to make way for a distribution center.

As the economy changes...

[deadmallrats]

The Schuylkill Mall in Frackville, PA, being knocked down, and being replaced by a distribution center.. 

[parttimereporter]

The coal miner from the Schuylkill mall is now at Knoebels..

[parttimereporter]

Late to the game but news is the same... the building stood almost 40 years... and the holes in the roof prove it .. It will be missed. This is another shock for an already shocked and positive-deprived area. An area that so desperately needs a break...