Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Oneonta's Southside Mall

This post comes from outside the blog's coverage area.

While on a trip to visit the Kmart in Sidney, I thought I'd also go the extra few miles to nearby Oneonta and to take a look at the mall there. Originally anchored by JCPenney and Kmart, the mall opened in the 1980s. Kmart would close during 2003 due to their bankruptcy. A Steve and Barry's operated for a very short time in the space before they too went bankrupt. The space is now subdivided between TJMaxx, Dick's Sporting Goods and Petco with only TJMaxx having mall access. A Great American supermarket location operated in what is now OfficeMax. A plaza annex which added Bed, Bath & Beyond and a couple of stores would be built around 2007.

Overall, I really liked this mall. It is the perfect size for the area and the architectural details appear to be original which is always cool to see. The mall is very similar in layout and architecture to the Clarion Mall, though on a slightly bigger scale. Both even had the same anchors at one time.

For the tour of the mall, we start at what was the Kmart and its entrance wing and will work our way up to JCPenney and back. The post will conclude with a look at the mall's main entrance.




The Kmart facade remains intact here!































Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Bon-Ton Gone at Columbia Mall


Bon-Ton, as we knew it, is now gone. But, as you will see later in the post, Bon-Ton may actually be primed to make a limited comeback. This post highlights just one of more than 200 stores that underwent a liquidation sale earlier this year. This location is the Bloomsburg, PA store in the dead Columbia Mall.






























While Bon-Ton is gone, its website is not. After concluding the liquidation sales last month, Bon-Ton and its family of banners have been bought by an Indianapolis company who plan to open some physical brick and mortar locations. It remains to be seen as to what locations will reopen.