Coudersport and Sheetz News

For as big of a county that Potter, PA is, there just really isn't much here to see when it comes to retail. (Blame it on the population) The only few things that this county has to offer will be covered right here, right now. This county is one of only two counties in PA that does not have a dept store or even a major supermarket chain of any kind. There are only 5 national companies in the county. They are Rite Aid, McDonald's, Subway, Goodwill and Dollar General. Sheetz does have a location here, but they are not a national chain. Goodwill is the newest store to enter the county. JCPenney did have a mini-store in Coudersport at one time but it closed in the late '00s.

Sheetz News

So this is an old Sheetz. I believe this location is #165 or #166 in the chain. Therefore it is an outdated store by today's standards. Sheetz does want to expand:

"Sheetz is interested in expanding its Coudersport store, according to Sheetz Site Selector Brian Dinges. However, the only viable option for the current location, he said, is to expand west onto .35 acres of the Arboretum, a park on borough property. The Arboretum is in part maintenanced by the Arboretum Committee, which raises money for the effort. The park features the American Legion Veteran Honor Wall and dedication trees, benches and bricks. The borough pays for the mowing, electric and insurance."

-quote from toigapublishing.com.

I did read that Sheetz wants the arboretum to relocate elsewhere and would help to accomplish it.

You can see a satellite perspective of the area via the link above. Here's two on the ground pictures from that park area:

It will be interesting to see what happens here. Here's some interior photos of this older Sheetz location:

Goodwill Moves In
As I mentioned, Goodwill is the newest national company to move into Potter County. Originally they set up in a 2,500 sq. ft. former Movie Gallery after it had closed, but it soon relocated to make a more proper-sized Goodwill at a former Dollar General next door after Dollar General relocated to a new store down the road from its existing location.

Former Movie Gallery and Goodwill.

Former Dollar General now Goodwill. Below is a picture of when Dollar General operated here.

Goodwill took over the former Dollar General sign as well.

The new Dollar General being constructed.

The finished new Dollar General.

Other Coudersport Retail:

And of course here's a look at the former JCPenney:

Flickr user drpep also has this picture which is worth mentioning. It shows a labelscar at this location.

The only other comments I want to make for Potter County is that Sheetz was looking at one time to build a second Potter County location in Shinglehouse, but that did not go through because of a household unwilling to sell. Walmart also almost opened a location in Roullette in the 1990s, but because of a lack of support from the community it never happened.

That's it from Coudersport (and pretty much Potter County as well). I will try to keep an eye out for any developments on Sheetz in the future, but nothing has started yet.

UPDATE: Sheetz has now plans to abandon its current location (though it does hope to find a replacement tenant) and relocate next to Goodwill.

Modern Remodeled Rite Aid

As I had mentioned in a post last month, it is my intention to try to get most of the decor packages at Rite Aid locations in the Twin Tiers coverage area. Unfortunately, the weather is going the other way in the Great Lakes region, so some designs may or may not get covered. I stepped out on Halloween to visit a few different Rite Aid locations and to my surprise many of them actually have remodeled to this design. I knew some locations had remodeled, but I didn't realize that this many did. The exterior hadn't changed at these locations; something of which was throwing me off.

I was able to locate three different decor packages, though one is left over from Eckerd. Some of these locations I visited were smaller stores so they also had less signage than others. My local Rite Aid is a larger former Eckerd (with more signage than the one I visited) that I too will have to take some pictures of eventually.

This location serving downtown and south Jamestown has the diamond window design with the rare red letters:

 I'll let the pictures do the talking here:

Freezers has a separate roof. Might be original to the store, left over from a design prior or both.

This isn't the newest design seen at brand new locations. Newer ground-up locations feature circle signs. There aren't any brand new Rite Aid locations close to me. Though the closest one to me is in Emporium, PA or Waterloo, NY, winter is not the time of year to be traveling to those areas, especially for Emporium. To see this variant you can check out this picture from Baltimore_Retail's flickr photostream.

More Rite Aid posts to come in the future!

Millcreek Mall & Plaza Complex (Part Two)

"The mall is shaped like a gun for some reason." I've found myself thinking that statement pretty much every time I walked into this particular shopping center. Take a look at this mall from a map perspective and you can understand why:

This map is somewhat outdated, but you can still clearly see the shape that mall makes! The outdated portion is the Burlington space at the top and H&M taking over a bunch of stores nearby. The Burlington space has since been absorbed into the mall as you will see below. Here's a new map which focuses on that area:

Since we are discussing the Burlington wing, we will start there first. Here's some before pictures:

This Burlington facade has since been completely removed.

A.C. Moore operates as a junior anchor is this wing.

Burlington wing looking back. This 2013 photo doesn't have H&M in it.

Now for the after: (pictures from inside the former Burlington)

The different tile-work would indicate about where the former wall was.

A vending machine does not take the fact away that there are some vacancies here....

One of the two new businesses that have opened up in the former Burlington. Neon FTW!

Of course the downside of the mall's plan is that Burlington had a second level, so that's twice as much space to fill.... 

....so that too leads to more empty space.

I didn't realize at the time that H&M is new since my last visit. I was thinking I had a picture of it, but I now realize I don't. Another picture for another post I suppose! 

Moving onto the mini Bon Ton wing followed by the Sears wing.

Bon Ton was a former Elder-Beerman.

Sears is an original anchor to this mall.

Now for the mall's main concourse followed by the food court wing.

Former Kaufman's

This Radioshack is one of the many locations that closed.

JCPenney is an original mall anchor.

The promenade hallway leads to the upscale stores that have an exterior entrance as seen in part one.

The food court was previously another hallway that had just lead to a mall entrance. In 2008, the mall redeveloped the wing to make it into a food court.

FYE didn't have a location at the Millcreek Mall until the food court area was added.

Former Panda Express.

So that concludes the mall tour. Obviously I'll have to look into getting a few more pictures in the future. When I get those pictures, I'll be sure to do an update post to the mall.