South Hills Mall

[amesman]

Just went here the other day, and it's possibly the last time I will ever set foot in this mall again. Not because of personal choice, but because it is going to be demolished soon and Wal-Mart and Christmas Tree Shops will be going in. The only things from the mall remaining will be Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory, and the theater.

I will post my pictures up here eventually, but for now, just discuss your memories/experiences for this once alive and well mall, killed by it's neighbor and much larger mall, the Poughkeepsie Galleria.

[NJxxJon]

Originally posted by amesman
Just went here the other day, and it's possibly the last time I will ever set foot in this mall again. Not because of personal choice, but because it is going to be demolished soon and Wal-Mart and Christmas Tree Shops will be going in. The only things from the mall remaining will be Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory, and the theater.

I will post my pictures up here eventually, but for now, just discuss your memories/experiences for this once alive and well mall, killed by it's neighbor and much larger mall, the Poughkeepsie Galleria.

Do X-mas tree shops make money? HONESTLY?

[amesman]

Couldn't answer that question directly. The one in Albany seems to do pretty well.

[amesman]

Now we start the pictures. These aren't all of the ones I took, but they are some of the ones that "stand out" at capturing the emptiness of the place. Enjoy.

[amesman]

Service Merchandise wing that is now sealed off.

[amesman]

Looking towards Burlington Coat Factory.. originally Hess's.

[amesman]

Empty hallway.

[amesman]

A lonely Kmart shopping cart.

[amesman]

The mall is completely open. Yes, they tell you the mall is closed, but, yeah.. whatever.

[amesman]

Not open anymore..

[amesman]

Entrance with many people wondering what has happened and why they can't get in the locked doors. They went on with their lives not caring, and now suddenly they are shocked.

[amesman]

Media Play and the old Pharmhouse.

[amesman]

The cinemas, still alive and well.

[amesman]

I talked to the security guard on "food court" patrol for about an hour. He was a nice guy. We talked about the mall and how it used to be and how the mall next door killed it in a slow and painful death. He saw me taking pictures, and while he said it was his job to tell me not to take them, he basically said that as long as he didn't see me take them, I could go on as I wished. What also helped my cause was that I told him I drove 150 miles to see the mall and to just capture some last memories of the place.

Also, while I was there through the day, many people that saw me asked me what had happened to the place. I told them. And I told them what would happen. Many did not believe it. So is the nature of the dead mall. Or anything else that disappears for that matter. We think, "Oh, it'll be here forever", but when it goes, we're shocked. We have no idea why such a thing would happen. I saw many examples of that through my tour of South Hills.

But anyway, after talking about the mall with the security guard, as well as www.deadmalls.com, for which I help out with a great deal, and asking if he had anything he could give me to remember the place by, he gave me this floor plan of the mall which I'm assuming is from 1995. As you can see, Pharmhouse(closed in bankruptcy) is there, as well as Bob's Stores, Media Play(which suffered Pharmhouse's fate), Old Navy(which moved to the galleria), Discovery Zone(where I attended a friend's birthday party when I was 7..the first time I ever stepped foot in South Hills), Service Merchandise, and many other stores which closed or moved somewhere else.

[amesman]

And here's what WILL happen. The mall for the most part, except for Burlington Coat Factory, Kmart, and the Price Chopper turned Shoprite(a very disgusting and unkept Shoprite I might add.. but then again, where is there a clean one? :-P), will be demolished, and a Christmas Tree Shops, along with other stores will occupy the site. I've heard rumors of Wal-Mart, but looking at this new plan, I cannot seem to point where it will be, if at all. There's no real room for one.

[NJxxJon]

They are supporting their own dot com at least............... :P

[amesman]

it hasn't worked since 2006.

[Caldor1999]

i highy doubt wal mart will even go in there seeing as how theres already a kmart but yea the mall dosent look that diffrent from the last time i was there about 2 years ago only thing thats diffrent is that theres more stores that are gone

[standa]

Are NAMCO and Office Max still at the South Hills Mall?  The NAMCO advertisements list a South Hills Mall location near Office Max.

[amesman]

Office Max closed last year. Namco is still there and will move to a new building when the strip mall is constructed.

[amesman]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
i highy doubt wal mart will even go in there seeing as how theres already a kmart but yea the mall dosent look that diffrent from the last time i was there about 2 years ago only thing thats diffrent is that theres more stores that are gone

Kmart would be no threat to Wal-Mart. They could definitely go in there. The only reason I'm doubting it is due to the new site plan I posted above. There's no room. But, Kmart is definitely not the problem in that scenario.

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by amesman

Originally posted by Caldor1999
i highy doubt wal mart will even go in there seeing as how theres already a kmart but yea the mall dosent look that diffrent from the last time i was there about 2 years ago only thing thats diffrent is that theres more stores that are gone

Kmart would be no threat to Wal-Mart. They could definitely go in there. The only reason I'm doubting it is due to the new site plan I posted above. There's no room. But, Kmart is definitely not the problem in that scenario.

eh true i still think its odd to see a kmart and a wal mart in the same shopping center but eh as long as something gets done with that place i guess thats all that matters i remember going to this mall when i was 8 or 9 for my frineds bday at discoverey zone thats probley the last vacant one u can find anywere

[webcookie]

Well, Jack, you posted mostly all of the same pictures I have, so I won't post any more.

*Amesman and I visited South Hills Mall within hours of each other that day.

[davidsky]

I live near the South Hills Mall. The construction crews have been here for a few weeks. The entire front parking lot is torn up and it also looks like the front face of the building is torn down. You have to access KMart from the back.