Susquehanna Valley Mall: Struggling in the Rt. 80 corridor - Raw & Real Retail

This is our walkthrough of the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove, PA from December 26, 2018. This is another mall that has fallen on hard times the last few years. Boscov's is the only anchor store left, with Sears, Bon-Ton, and JCPenney all vacating within the last 4 years. We visited the day after Christmas, and even during the holiday season, foot traffic was quite light in this mall. The mall is co-managed by PREIT and Spinoso Real Estate Group.

Songs used in this video (in order):

Richard Morcombe - Action Event
Geoff Castle - City Lights
Jean Bouchety - Talking Point
Richard Morcombe - Saturday Night Driver
George Duke - Old Slippers
Voyage - Souvenirs
Steve Gray - Wonder Groove

Here is a brief history of the mall from Wikipedia:

Susquehanna Valley Mall is a shopping mall outside of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania on US 11/US 15. It is anchored by Boscov's. Several outparcels include a AMC Theatres (formerly Carmike Cinemas/Cinema Center).

Boscov's opened in 1977, prior to the mall. Susquehanna Valley Mall opened on September 26, 1978 with 400,000 sq. ft. of space and three anchors including Bon-Ton and Boscov's. J. C. Penney became an anchor 10 months after the mall opened. Susquehanna Valley Mall expanded in 1998 and added a fourth anchor, Sears, along with additional stores. The mall was the largest retail project to occur in the Susquehanna Valley for 30 years until PREIT opened the Monroe Marketplace in 2008.

Hollister opened in December 2008, while BMoss announced its closing. KB Toys closed in early 2009, while Golden Wok and Sprint opened. Two women were carjacked from the mall parking lot in May 2009, with the carjacker later turning himself in. Arby's suffered a grease fire in October 2009. Susquehanna Valley Mall and many of its tenants filed county tax appeals in 2009. Waldenbooks closed in 2011, with Books-A-Million replacing it in October. Max Media opened a radio studio in 2011. The Courtyard Theater opened in 2013 and presented live theater in the mall. In June 2014, a fatal car accident occurred in the mall's parking lot.

Gap closed in January 2015 and Christopher & Banks moved to the Monroe Marketplace. J. C. Penney closed in April 2015. RadioShack and Deb Shops also closed in 2015.The Hallmark shop began closing sales in late June 2016 Aeropostale began closing sales in September 2016. In December 2016, the Courtyard Theatre and Limitless Mobile both closed. Additional stores that closed in late 2016 include Sprint and Things Remembered. Boscov's Furniture Outlet opened in March 2017, occupying the former Gap. Sears closed in March 2017. Justice closed in April, while Cricket Wireless opened in June 2017. All In Adventures and Stadium Studio opened in 2017, while Crazy 8, Subway, and TCBY closed. The Bon-Ton closed in late April 2018, leaving Boscov's as the mall's only remaining anchor. Higher Hope Church uses the former J. C. Penney for their meetings. Family Practice Center will take over the former Sears space, and remodel it into a clinic with a 50-year lease. The former Sears building was sold to D&C Realty, with the mall retaining ownership of the land underneath, for $1.5 million. Re-purposing of the former Sears to Family Practice Center will take several years and begin in Fall 2018, with no planned exterior changes to the building.

[williammcfadden]

The woman with the little girl by the fountain from 1:20 to 1:30 was Mennonite. Mennonite women wear bonnets and long dresses. Mennonites are similar to the Amish, except they drive automobile, use mechanical devices and use electricity, which most Amish do not. Over the years Amish and Mennonites have moved from the area around Lancaster to other places in Central and Western Pennsylvania. Often times they purchase farms from older farmers who are discontinuing in farming and then continue to farm that land.

[hodxody]

As malls go this one is rather small. Also I don’t think a lot of money was spent building this place. Further There not much in way of upgrades either. I agree the foot traffic is light considering the holiday season. I think th other near by mall is simply better and attracts more people. I put this one on my, shaky list. Possibly they will make it.

[williammcfadden]

US 11-15 from Selinsgrove to Shamokin Dam, along which Susquehanna Valley Mall is located is the major retail corridor for Snyder, Union and Northumberland Counties in north-central Pennsylvania. Many of the primary roads in those three counties lead to the US 11-15 corridor. This mall is relatively easy to get to in that area. Possibly if the vacant spaces and the empty former anchor stores were re-programmed to uses other than retail, the mall could do well and survive. Professional and business offices could locate within the mall and the former anchor stores could become things such as a children's play area, miniature golf course or something similar. If some of these struggling malls turned to non-traditional types of uses they would have better possibilities of survival in my opinion.

[chucksluver]

Just read that the mall is headed for a sheriff sale on August 9th

[ItsaRomethingeveryday]

Liked very much your video, the malls around where we live are in much more dead status, really enjoyed watching this, also I liked how crystal clear this video was

[lilyevans]

My formerly PREIT owned mall has those same Christmas decorations.

[lifewithtodd]

It may be a ghost town but there is quite a bit of stores

[izmzer]

Really bummed about this one. Me and my family would come here all the time, it was worth the drive to come here all day rather than to to our dead local mall that was right in town. (Schuylkill Mall, Frackvile PA)

Things changed for the worst here at SvM tho in just a few short years.

[chucksluver]

I was there only ever once in the summer of 2017 on a weekday and it was a ghost town