Driving Around the Penn-Can & Marketplace Malls

Perhaps the most memorable and well-known former mall in the Syracuse area, today we feature the old Penn-Can Mall. This mall, which is know an auto-mall known as Driver's Village, was named for being halfway between Canada and Pennsylvania. It opened in the mid '70s on a generally straight floorplan and was Syracuse's first mall on the north end of town. It was anchored by Sears and later added a Hills dept store in 1983. Local chains Dey Brothers and Addis & Company served as junior anchors. The mall saw an expansion in 1986 which made the mall form a T-shape and added local store Chappell's as an anchor.

Things started to go downhill for this mall way back in the late '80s well before many others. This is due to the fact that the nearby Great Northern Mall opened in 1988. Both Sears and Dey Brothers relocated to this newer mall. Meanwhile, the former Sears site was replaced by a Steinbach store. Chappells later relocated in the mid '90s as well when it replaced the Dey Brothers location there before eventually calling it quits as a chain whole. The Chappells location at the Penn-Can Mall would become a Caldor. Eventually, Steinbach closed and was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory.

There was plans in 1994 to demolish the actual mall and replace it with a mega shopping center which would of included Hills, Caldor and Burlington Coat Factory. These plans never came into light though. The mall closed its doors in 1996, leaving just the anchors. The Hills site would eventually become an Ames store until it closed in 2002. Burlington managed to stay put here up until 2016, when it relocated to a new store in Clay. 

And if it was bad enough, there was a second mall next door. No, I kid you not. The only thing separating the two malls was a road. This second mall, which was known as Marketplace Mall (not to be confused with the Marketplace Mall in Henrietta, NY), was much smaller by comparison. The mall's anchors were a Service Merchandise and a short-lived Silo's electronics store. Apparently a TJMaxx briefly operated at this mall as well likely replacing the Silo store. Price Chopper and few other stores were also part of the shopping mall, though they did not have any mall access. Eventually, the mall portion was torn down and a new lifestyle center with a new more modern Price Chopper and Lowe's was opened along with a couple of new plazas built.

For more information and even some pictures as the site as the mall, visit the website dedicated to preserving the Penn-Can Mall's history here. Unfortunately, this site only focuses on the Penn-Can Mall, but there is some awesome pictures nonetheless.

Flash forward to the year 2000, and a new life finally came for the Penn-Can Mall. A local car dealer purchased the Penn-Can property and turned it into a gigantic car dealership. The two exceptions were of course where Ames and Burlington Coat Factory operated. The former Ames was eventually turned into a used car showroom for the dealership after it closed while Burlington sits empty as it left more recently. 

Changes to the Penn-Can mall structure were a given the new use. The former Ames and Burlington wings were demolished while the anchor buildings themselves were not. The newer 1986 Chappell's/Caldor wing and 2-story area where the three wings would of connected remained as well. The new owners also preserved a piece of the mall by keeping the old clock found in the two story area.

Now for some historical pics (courtesy of Google Earth) before moving on to the pictures I took:

Here you can see the layout of the Marketplace Mall and also how close it was to the Penn-Can Mall. Satellite imagery from 1995.

Construction progress of the Marketplace Mall into a new shopping center. Satellite views from 2003 and 2005.

The current layout of the shopping plaza.

Now for the Penn-Can Mall:

1995 satellite view

2003 view. The Sears and Ames wings are demolished.

The site as seen today.

I leave you with my pics. I will first start with my pictures of the former Marketplace Mall, followed by the exterior of Driver's Village and finish with the interior. The interior tour begins at the green entrance.

Abandonded McDonald's found near the Lowe's. Note the Driver's Village sign in the background. That is the same sign that was used for the Penn-Can Mall. In fact....

....you can even still see some scars from the old signage

Former Sears/Steinbach/Burlington Coat Factory

Green Entrance

You can see where the mall would of continued to the former Sears building ahead

Former Hills/Ames

A model railroad is on display here. Pretty neat!

This clock is a holdover from Penn-Can Mall