Cortlandville Mall to Crossings (Part 1)

Known for its apples, the city of Cortland, NY has more to offer than food, though I do have to admit that I always make a stop at the A&W in town....

One of the more interesting things found in this central New York city is this dinky JCPenney store which is a part of the Cortland Crossings plaza.1 The plaza was at one time a small mall with Grants (now Kmart) and Chappels as anchors.2 

Built by Pyramid Malls out of Syracuse in the late '60s or early '70s, this mall eventually fell victim to the newer Syracuse malls and especially the nearby Shops at Ithaca Mall. Ironically, Pyramid also built most, but not all, of the competition to this mall.

Please note that as of late 2015, Tractor Supply is no longer a part of this plaza. It relocated to a freestanding store further south on NY 13. Marshalls has replaced Tractor Supply at this plaza as seen below.

In the mall days, this was a Sears catalog store.

Originally Price Chopper, then a Lowbal's supermarket. Tractor Supply (at the time the picture was taken) and is now currently a Marshalls store as seen via the Google Maps view below:

Picture Credit to Google Maps.

The now Marshalls and attached plaza was not attached to the mall.

Former Chappels and Bon Ton.
Picture credit to Google Maps.

The former Grants is now a Kmart location. We'll take a closer look at this particular Kmart location in a future Kmart spotlight post.

The mall's original entrance has been turned into a Radioshack, which I do believe is still in operation today. Although I did not know this at the time, I've learned that the Radioshack has mall's old doors intact and carries the mall's 70s decor on its walls. I'll have to return to take a look as long as this Radioshack is still open.

Footnotes:
1. The dinky JCPenney store, which relocated from a downtown store, will be the focus of part 2.

2. Bon Ton briefly had a location in Cortland as a result of buying out Chappels. Apparently it only lasted a few months before closing. Price Chopper would eventually return to the same shopping center by taking over the former Chappels/Bon Ton space when the mall became a plaza in the 1990s.