The Nittany Mall traces it roots back to 1968 when it opened as a Crown American mall with anchors Grants and Penn-Traffic. An 1970 expansion added third anchor Sears while Gee Bee took over the Grants space in 1976. The Penn Traffic space would become a Hess's dept store after being sold to Crown American. Another expansion in 1989 and 1990 would add JCPenney as a fourth anchor and cause Sears to relocate to a bigger space on the east end of the property where it would operate until January 2018.
The Gee Bee space would be converted into a Value City in 1992 until it closed in 1997. The building was demolished and replaced with a newly constructed Kaufman's which would become Macy's in 2006. The Hess's space became Bon-Ton in 1994. JCPenney closed its doors in 2015 and the space became a Dunham's Sports in 2016. Bon-Ton would close in spring 2018 as part of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy wave.
Currently, the mall is anchored by Macy's and Dunham's. The Bon-Ton and Sears spaces sit empty. The pictures of the mall I have below are mostly from 2015 after JCPenney had closed. A couple newer pics from 2018 are also included toward the end.
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| Google Maps street view of Sears |
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| Kaufmans/Macy's |
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| Penn Traffic/Hess/Bon-Ton |
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| Google Maps street view of the former JCPenney |
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| Former CVS |
Interior Tour:
The next few pictures come from March 2018:
While this mall is no doubt struggling, I don't quite consider this to be a dead mall quite yet. If the mall owners can get some sort of entertainment venue in, I feel this mall could make a comeback. If Macy's were to close this store however, I feel the mall will have a hard time recovering.
I give this mall a 'C' in its current state.
