Burlington (Formerly Burlington Coat Factory)

[TheFugitive]

three of these in my area.

1) In the former Village Square Mall, next to South Hills Village in suburban Pittsburgh.
A former indoor mall that was "de-malled" about 20 yrs. ago.  The interior space that was
the mall was gutted and the full floor space was opened up for tenants.  Burlington fills the
top floor.  Kohl's is downstairs, and Home Depot fills a former Hills location in the back.

2) In the former Hechingers location in West Mifflin, PA, across the parking lot from
the Service Merchandise where I worked.

3) In the first floor of the former Gimbels Department Store on Smithfield Street in
Downtown Pittsburgh.  This is a remnant of the dwindling retail scene downtown.
The store has had a lot of crime problems.  It is located next-door to a McDonalds that
had basically become an open air drug market.

[JimSawhill]

three of these in my area.

1) In the former Village Square Mall, next to South Hills Village in suburban Pittsburgh.
A former indoor mall that was "de-malled" about 20 yrs. ago.  The interior space that was
the mall was gutted and the full floor space was opened up for tenants.  Burlington fills the
top floor.  Kohl's is downstairs, and Home Depot fills a former Hills location in the back.

2) In the former Hechingers location in West Mifflin, PA, across the parking lot from
the Service Merchandise where I worked.

3) In the first floor of the former Gimbels Department Store on Smithfield Street in
Downtown Pittsburgh.  This is a remnant of the dwindling retail scene downtown.
The store has had a lot of crime problems.  It is located next-door to a McDonalds that
had basically become an open air drug market.

Does the McDonald's employees say, 'Would you like cocaine with your order?' 😀

[MikeinBuffalo]

2001 Walden Avenue in Buffalo, NY, used to be a Two Guys department store way back in the 1970s. Not sure if the building is the same.

[MikeRa]

There are several Burlington Coat Factory stores in Philadelphia, including:

• Cottman and Castor Avenue (in portion of former Lit Brothers/Clover/JCPenney)
• Philadelphia Mills Mall (in former 49th Street Galleria)
• NE Corner 11th and Market Street, in The Gallery (former JCPenney)
• Rosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road (in portion of former E. J. Korvette)

There are a good many Burlington locations in the SE Pennsylvania/south New Jersey/Delaware area, including Burlington Stores corporate HQ.

Locations in Philadelphia, PA are:

• Store #129: 9167 Roosevelt Boulevard
• Store #197: 1563 Franklin Mills Circle (Former 49th Street Galleria)
• Store #279: 2385 Cheltenham Avenue (Former Upper level of Gimbels
• Store #431: 833 Market Street (Former Walgreens and Basement Level of Strawbridge & Clothier, replaced location at NE Corner 11th and Market Street, in The Gallery)
• Store #547: 700 East Hunting Park Avenue
• Store #815: 424 West Oregon Avenue
• Store #876: 7301 Castor Avenue (1st Floor of a former Lit Brothers/Clover/JCPenney

[mixedday]

There are several Burlington Coat Factory stores in Philadelphia, including:

• Cottman and Castor Avenue (in portion of former Lit Brothers/Clover/JCPenney)
• Philadelphia Mills Mall (in former 49th Street Galleria)
• NE Corner 11th and Market Street, in The Gallery (former JCPenney)
• Rosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road (in portion of former E. J. Korvette)

There are a good many Burlington locations in the SE Pennsylvania/south New Jersey/Delaware area, including Burlington Stores corporate HQ.

Locations in Philadelphia, PA are:

• Store #129: 9167 Roosevelt Boulevard
• Store #197: 1563 Franklin Mills Circle (Former 49th Street Galleria)
• Store #279: 2385 Cheltenham Avenue (Former Upper level of Gimbels
• Store #431: 833 Market Street (Former Walgreens and Basement Level of Strawbridge & Clothier, replaced location at NE Corner 11th and Market Street, in The Gallery)
• Store #547: 700 East Hunting Park Avenue
• Store #815: 424 West Oregon Avenue
• Store #876: 7301 Castor Avenue (1st Floor of a former Lit Brothers/Clover/JCPenney

Burlington is very concentrated in some areas in the Philly market, but I feel it has light coverage particularly in the western suburbs. For example, it lacks a store serving from Plymouth Meeting, King of Prussia, Malvern,  Exton/Downingtown corridor if you go east to west on the PA Turnpike. It's store locator lists locations in Wilmington, or Springfield, Upper Darby, but none in those specified markets. These are all markets where Target operates at least one store.

I thought the JCPenney closure at King of Prussia and macy's closure at Plymouth Meeting could spur some redevelopment and include Burlington, but the mall owners aren't redeveloping with Burlington in mind. Perhaps Burlington will look at offsite Toys R Us/Babies R Us former locations in King of Prussia and where suitable. It snatched up the Sports Authority site in the Centerton Square in Mt. Laurel, NJ and some it's new stores are about 50,000 sq. ft over 80,000 sq. ft stores.

[giantsfan2016]

I thought the JCPenney closure at King of Prussia and macy's closure at Plymouth Meeting could spur some redevelopment and include Burlington, but the mall owners aren't redeveloping with Burlington in mind. Perhaps Burlington will look at offsite Toys R Us/Babies R Us former locations in King of Prussia and where suitable. It snatched up the Sports Authority site in the Centerton Square in Mt. Laurel, NJ and some it's new stores are about 50,000 sq. ft over 80,000 sq. ft stores.

On the subject of the vacant JCP at the KOP Mall, I just hope Simon (the owners of the mall) does not do what GGP did to the old JCP at the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island. It is my understanding that GGP bulldozed the old JCP and replaced it with another parking structure.

[mixedday]

I thought the JCPenney closure at King of Prussia and macy's closure at Plymouth Meeting could spur some redevelopment and include Burlington, but the mall owners aren't redeveloping with Burlington in mind. Perhaps Burlington will look at offsite Toys R Us/Babies R Us former locations in King of Prussia and where suitable. It snatched up the Sports Authority site in the Centerton Square in Mt. Laurel, NJ and some it's new stores are about 50,000 sq. ft over 80,000 sq. ft stores.

On the subject of the vacant JCP at the KOP Mall, I just hope Simon (the owners of the mall) does not do what GGP did to the old JCP at the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island. It is my understanding that GGP bulldozed the old JCP and replaced it with another parking structure.

I would think something like a Whole Foods on one level, Burlington or Best Buy on another level would be a suitable replacement for the JCPenney, but I believe the plan is go hybrid mixed-use at the JCPenney site at King of Prussia. There is no Whole Foods currently in the immediate King of Prussia area, and even though Best Buy has an offsite, maybe at the mall will draw bigger crowds and higher sales, even though rent will be higher. I like that the Walden Galleria in Buffalo has a Best Buy as part of the mall, and something similar could have been done at King of Prussia.

Instead the King of Prussia JCPenney redevelopment plans is luxury apartments and class A office space, and likely more parking structures. Personally, I think there is not enough space in that side of the mall for hyper redevelopment like that, and parking will become unmanageable. Apartments and offices will block entrances to/from the mall as well, and not accommodate through access like an anchor or junior anchor.

But the ToysRUs/Babies location in King of Prussia is an ideal place for Burlington, and it doesn't need to be part of the mall. It shouldn't be hard for Burlington to snatch this site up and it wouldn't have to deal with a mall owner.

At King of Prussia, there is a plan to upgrade the flooring/aesthetics of the entire mall to match the newer connector. That is needed.

[Zayre88]

Burlington had downsized some stores recently.

The South Portland Maine location has been sub-divided inside with a wall made of racking and the back of the store is now storage. I have noticed the same setup at the Peabody MA location.

Bangor ME is possibly getting the same treatment with the back of the store nearly empty currently.

[MikeRa]

Burlington has closed the Northeast Shopping Center store in Philadelphia PA.  This store was a 2-level store (1st Floor and Basement)

[Everything Community]

Burlington is slated to take up a portion of the former Kmart at Cromwell Square in Cromwell, CT:

https://patch.com/connecticut/middletown-ct/amp/30607987/burlington-store-to-open-in-cromwell-report

[Zayre88]

Several Burlington stores have drastically downsized their floor selling space lately. They've done this by adding racking walls at the back of the store. This makes the selling area much smaller, often comparable to a typical Marshalls or Tjmaxx.

I guess the reasons behind that may be the lack of merchandise to fill larger stores. It also makes less floor space to cover and maintain by staff.

I wonder what are the net savings because they still have to rent/pay for unused floor space (which is lighted and air conditioned too).

[Retail Regents]

Several Burlington stores have drastically downsized their floor selling space lately. They've done this by adding racking walls at the back of the store. This makes the selling area much smaller, often comparable to a typical Marshalls or Tjmaxx.

I guess the reasons behind that may be the lack of merchandise to fill larger stores. It also makes less floor space to cover and maintain by staff.

I wonder what are the net savings because they still have to rent/pay for unused floor space (which is lighted and air conditioned too).

I wonder if the cost is not the reason for keeping the unused floor space, but rather keeping other businesses from filling the space, especially given the space is not walled off.

[TheFugitive]

I drove by the relatively new Burlington store in Bridgeville, PA the other day and noticed that they were in the process of knocking some new doors into the building down at the far and where the old Kmart Auto Center used to be.  So obviously they are not taking up the entire footprint of the building and that area is being leased to another retailer tbd (I don't see any Coming Soon signs up yet).

[BillyGr]

Several Burlington stores have drastically downsized their floor selling space lately. They've done this by adding racking walls at the back of the store. This makes the selling area much smaller, often comparable to a typical Marshalls or Tjmaxx.

I guess the reasons behind that may be the lack of merchandise to fill larger stores. It also makes less floor space to cover and maintain by staff.

I wonder what are the net savings because they still have to rent/pay for unused floor space (which is lighted and air conditioned too).

I wonder if the cost is not the reason for keeping the unused floor space, but rather keeping other businesses from filling the space, especially given the space is not walled off.

They may also not want to do anything immediately, as there is a possibility that the amount of available inventory and staffing could go back up in the future.
Other places they took over existing space and may not have used all of it, but the remainder has no easy way of being accessed (there is one store locally in a mall that might apply to, as the blocked off sections are not near any doorways from either outside or the mall itself).

[TheFugitive]

I was in the Burlington store in West Mifflin, PA yesterday and noticed the same thing.  The building there is a former Hechingers home center and is quite large.  Burlington is currently using only the front half.  They have the back half walled off with a cheesy pegboard wall that you can see right through or around.  That does make it seem that this is temporary and they could expand the footprint later on (though I doubt it will ever go back to the entire former Hechingers floor plan).

[TheFugitive]

The Burlington location in the de-malled Village Square Mall near Pittsburgh has closed.

It was in an odd upstairs location of the former mall that could only be reached via an escalator from the lower parking lot.  It shared space on that floor with Kohl's.  Strangely that Kohl's has a front entrance that can be accessed from the front parking lot (this is Pittsburgh with very hilly terrain after all) but there was no corresponding second entrance for Burlington. 

With Burlington gone the mall's owner has just closed that lower entrance and shut down the escalator.  The rear doors at Kohl's have been blocked with a note saying the mall's owners will no longer let you exit to that lower parking lot.