Walmart would finally get their way and open a supercenter in 2011 by demolishing everything save for Bon-Ton. This made Bon-Ton the last remnant of the former Lockport Mall. Today, Bon-Ton is of course closed thanks to its bankruptcy last year, so what will happen with the space remains to be seen. I have little doubt it will stay empty long thanks to its proximity to Walmart.
We'll begin our tour with pictures of the mall before it was torn down. The following pictures are courtesy of Flickr user snappyjack1 and his album on the Lockport Mall. You can find even more pictures over there, but here a few highlights:
I also thought it'd be neat to get a satellite view on the changes:
Flash forward to summer 2018 and I stopped by to get pictures of Bon-Ton's liquidation:
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| Here's the obligatory pic of Walmart |
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| If you are observant, you'll notice that entrance has changed from Snappyjack1's pic above. I have feeling it was updated when Walmart came in. Bon-Ton had owned this store, so making changes was something in their control. |
Nice post - it's very cool to see the mall prior to its demolition, neat find with those pictures. I like the satellite view element as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Walmart and (facade-renovated) Bon-Ton look nice. It's too bad the latter will sit empty for a while, like you said. I'm never sure what's best in this situation... a vacant building serving as the lone reminder of a now long-gone mall, or if it would just be better to bite the bullet and demolish it too, if no one is willing to open in the space.
Thanks. Snappyjack1, or Jack Thomas, has been doing retail stuff for a long time. So a big thanks to him for taking the pictures.
DeleteAt this point, unless something is in the works, I'd say demolishing it would be the best option. However, it is not as simple as that since this particular store was owned by the company. It had to be auctioned off to a bidder and that of course took some time.
You're welcome! And yep, fair point. Always fun when things get tied up like that...
DeleteThe same thing happened at Camillus Mall. Bon-Ton was the last mall tenant and so was left standing, however to retain it required retaining a small portion of the mall, about 1/3 of the mall corridor and two small store spaces, which were remodeled and rented out.
ReplyDeleteEven better, the space dates to the 1964 construction of the original plaza, when it was Witherills. When the mall was built it became a Hess's, then Chapells, then Bon-Ton.
2 additional stores remained? I wonder if Bon-Ton simply took them over at some point because there is nothing to suggest 2 other storefronts.
DeleteNo, they're there. Southwest corner, Verizon store and a dance studio. The entire outside of the building was redone, but as built and during the mall era from the Bon-Ton entrance south, the first 10-15 feet was a mall corridor (and presumably a walkway before that). The angled tile wall is actually a remnant of the old mall entrance that they look to have matched when building out that doorway. The brick columns I believe are actual columns that were in the corridor, though they were tiled then. Or perhaps some of them are, there's more than I remember.
DeleteIt's fairly clear from the older aerials where the mall was tacked on the front, then torn down leaving the original structure behind.
From memory, the area where those two stores are was actually just one space. Maybe 50' deep, it started out as City Mattress, may have been another mattress chain, then was a golf shop, then an auctioneer used it as a gallery. It was never remodeled in any way. The next stores continuing down were the expanded movie theater and the Silo appliances store. In the old aerials you can see those, then the peaked roof that was originally P&C and last a Kay Bee Toys.
I see it now. Thanks for pointing those out.
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