Sounding the Alarm for Shoppers at ShoppingTown

The central New York city of Syracuse once could boast about having a staggering 8 malls. Now the city only has 3. And only one of them has no worries about attracting businesses, while the others have had some major death blows. The three malls currently operating are ShoppingTown Mall, Great Northern Mall and Destiny USA (which was formerly known as Carousel Center). Over the course of the next few months, we'll be taking a look at the various former mall sites and current mall in the greater Syracuse area. Although I still have not yet captured anything from the Great Northern Mall, I will try to do so at a later date.

The recent announcement of JCPenney closing at ShoppingTown got me thinking about doing a post of the mall's state when I visited. Hence the first part of a series of posts about the Syracuse malls will cover the now almost dead mall. 

Before I begin though, I highly recommend checking the Mall Hall of Fame's post on this very same mall as they have already provided a history of the mall from when it started as one of Syracuse's first plazas to its various stages of expansion. My aim was simply to capture what the mall looked like back in September of 2014. Now that Macy's has closed and JCPenney soon to follow, I also plan to re-visit this mall again next time I'm in the Syracuse area.

One way to Shoppingtown

We'll start the tour off with by taking a look at the exterior. (except for JCPenney as it is blocked by a parking garage.)

As mentioned at the Mall Hall of Fame, Sears moved from the former Fayetteville Mall when it was redeveloped into a strip mall. As a result, this '90s style of Sears is actually more modern than some other stores in the Sears chain.

At least half of the former Bon Ton now sits empty and abandoned. Its possible that REGAL cinemas may use the other half of the former store.

Rite Aid exterior entrance. Former Eckerd location.

A look at the now closed Macy's

Dick's has also closed at the mall in 2015 and relocated to the former DeWitt Kmart location.

TGI Friday's manages to hang on....

ShoppingTown was built by the same company that built the Medley Centre in Irondeqouit, hence the similar food court entrances.

Now for some interior views.

The sight upon entering.

The last expansion's main court:

Parking garage peek.

Food Court:

From what I understand, this Arby's has now closed.

Now for the rest of the last expansion area:

Parking garage entryway

Upper level of the main court of the '90s expansion area

Transition between expansion #4 to expansion #3

Former Bon Ton Mall entrance. REGAL is below

Taking a look at REGAL from above

Expansion #3 hallway

Main court in front of JCPenney:

Soon to close JCPenney

Side hallway that leads to another mall entrance:

TGI Friday's has mall seating instead of outdoor seating.

Even antiques are starting to pop up here!

Moving on to the former Dick's and Sears part of the mall. This portion of the mall has been dubbed the 'Community Wing' because all the tenants in this area are either local or offer some sort of service.

Kiddie rides. Basic Baby has since relocated outside the mall.

Dick's has since moved outside the mall as well.

The Sears wing was originally the plaza portion of the mall. The mall slopes slightly downwards here and because of that carpet is used instead of tile. Here's a look at the transition:

Edging closer to Sears. Because of the elevation change, ramps and stairs are found here. This particular area is quite the interesting design:

The hexagon shape surrounds a community room as seen below:

This skating rink was a former Woolworth/Media Play location. Note the escalators being blocked here.

Sears at Shoppingtown

Looking from the Sears entrance back into the Mall

One store was turned into a lobby with restrooms. I kid you not.

So that's it from Shoppingtown as of this moment. I do plan on returning here at some point and to take pictures of the changes that the dying mall has seen.