Century Square, West Mifflin, PA

[TheFugitive]

This is a large strip center atop the hill behind Century III Mall, near Pittsburgh.
When I lived nearby in the mid-90's it was a hopping place.  The store lineup included
Phar-Mor, Old Navy, Office Depot, Builders Square, Lee Wards, a Shop n' Save supermarket, and PetSmart.
The biggest problem used to be fighting all the traffic to get up there.

Went by there over the weekend and it has fallen on very hard times.   PharMor became Roomful
Express, which folded up a few years ago.  The space is still vacant.  Old Navy and PetSmart bugged out.
Planet Fitness moved into one of those spaces, the other is vacant.  A beauty school moved into the Lee Wards
space.   Levin Clearance Furniture is in the old Builders Square.  There is a BoRics, a Christian book store,
a Dunhams Sports, and a Chinese buffet.  Pretty much the rest of the strip is vacant.

Office Depot and Shop n' Save are still there.  The Shop n' Save is a shell of its former self though. 
It used to be the biggest, most modern grocery store in the area, and was busy 24/7.  Now it competes
with a relatively new Giant Eagle and a Walmart Super Center.  There were few customers, and they had
cut back drastically on both employees and floor space.

Also a bargain theater across the parking lot (all movies $1!) recently closed because of the transition of
movies to digital.  That seems to have severely cut the traffic flow to the center.   The parking lot is also
starting to resemble the surface of the moon in many places.

[TheFugitive]

The Office Depot store at this location is one of the 400 now slated to close.
This will leave better than half of the square footage at Century Square vacant.

Also I've noticed the candy tips at the Shop n' Save registers are not being restocked.
Generally an ominous first sign that a grocery store is about to close.

[TheFugitive]

Century Square will be gaining a new tenant.

Lowe's is going to move into the space most recently occupied by Levin's Furniture.
Story going around is that Levin's experienced a stockroom fire and there was significant
damage to the building.  Lowe's would do an extensive remodel anyhow to they likely were
able to cut a good deal.  The location was originally a Builders Square.

Levin's has said they plan to re-open, but have not said where.
The former Roomful Express location is available at the opposite end of the plaza.

[TheFugitive]

Latest developments at Century Square:

The movie theater has reopened.  This time as a luxury theater with stadium seating,
and a liquor license.  Business appears to be quite brisk.  This has prompted the Chili's
next-door to remodel.

The former Phar-Mor and Roomful Express location at the far end is currently being
renovated, and will reopen as a Hobby Lobby.

Lowe's has opened in place of the old Levin Furniture Outlet (which moved a few miles
away to the Curry Hollow Shopping Center). 

The Family Christian Bookstore and Office Depot locations are still vacant.
The Shop n' Save is still hanging in there.  Planet Fitness has moved into the old
Old Navy location.

[TheFugitive]

Century Square picked up a new tenant when the local Altmeyers (a local home goods chain)
left Southland Shopping Center at the bottom of the hill and moved into Century Square between
Lowes and Dollar Tree.

This plaza still has some major vacancies with the former Office Depot and Family Christian Stores
locations still empty.

No signs yet of what the former Altmeyers at Southland will become.