Binghamton's University Plaza

Once again, I must start this post off with a disclaimer of not knowing a lot about the history of this particular mall nor can I find a lot of information about the mall. So some of the maps below map have anchor placement in the wrong spot.

I can definitely say that this place was once a mall thanks to past Google Earth satellite imagery. (see below) I believe the anchors to have been Kmart and Ames. I was able to confirm that Kmart operated a store here thanks to a local news article. 

Similar to how both the Camillus Mall and Fairmount Fair Mall were redeveloped, this mall too was repurposed but instead by other means. Thanks to its proximity to Binghamton University, the mall be would ultimately wind up being a site for student housing with a small strip mall to serve the students. But some changes did occur before the housing project would occur. While it is a little change, it is worth noting that the Kmart store closed in 1999 and was used as a call center for various companies. I believe the Ames and perhaps even parts of the mall would be used for the same purpose for bit too.

In this 1994 satellite view, we can see a building design that is hard to deny being a mall:

Flash forward to 2002, we can see things are so lively based on this view:

You can definitely see some cars clustered around the south end of what was likely the Kmart.

2006's view shows some changes seeing some parts of the mall being demolished.

2011 brings very little change to the property, though it is evident that at least a few shops must be open to attract the amount of cars seen. Planet Fitness also opened at some point in the lower right.

The next change for 2017's view is a major one. This change caught me off guard at the time when I visited the property in person because satellite view hadn't showed any changes from the 2011 view but now does. The pictures that follow the satellite view are my own and come from 2017 while construction was occurring.

I don't believe this clock tower is a leftover from the mall, but I can't dismiss the possibility.

This view would basically be the mall corridor.

Construction

A special thanks to Google Earth and its historic satellite views for being able to provide some information on this property.

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.

The Dead Bradford Mall

NOTE: This post has been updated and is now complete.

As promised, here's a little post on the Bradford Mall's history (that I am aware of) and some future plans as well. Just like most other malls were meant to be, this mall was McKean county's shopping detestation in its heyday. Its original anchors were JCPenney and Woolworths. Other notable tenants included JO-ANN and CVS, as well as a bank. KB Toys possibly had a store here at one time, but I couldn't find any evidence suggesting it was other than talking with my parents/older friends.

As time moved on, JCPenney would end up closing first. What is odd in this situation is that they didn't really have any competition unless you count local clothing stores. They moved to a JCPenney catalog center on Kendall Ave (now Enterprise uses the space) before ultimately leaving Bradford forever. I can only assume that the nearby city of Olean, NY (about 15 miles away from Bradford across the state line) received its JCPenney location because of this one closing. Bradford did suffer from a major loss in population. Rather ironically, JCPenney has moved three times total if they did indeed replace the Bradford store with Olean.

Eventually Jamesway moved into the old JCPenney's space until the chain was bought out by Ames. The space did become Ames until it closed when the chain went bankrupt. Now about a quarter of the space is being used by Tractor Supply while Carolina Furniture uses the back half of the store as a warehouse for furniture assembly. According to the local newspaper, Carolina Furniture is interested in opening a showroom in the remaining quarter of the store. If this indeed does occur, then the former Ames would be completely filled. 

Former JCPenney, Jamesway and Ames. Now used by Tractor Supply and Carolina Furniture.

Former Ames interior. Note how clean it is. This is a good suggestion that Carolina furniture may open a showroom here.

Let's take a look at the mall itself. The mall is a classic T shape. I have limited pictures of the mall since it is closed to the public. However, you can still see remains of it through Big Lots, Label Shopper and obviously the former entrance.

Mall entrance. Verizon is one of the newest tenants here.

Former mall corridor as viewed from Big Lots' former mall entrance.

Here's a look at the former mall entrance for Big Lots.

Looking at Big Lots from Label Shopper.

Looking at Label Shopper (former CVS) from Big Lots.

Now for the future of the mall. As already stated, things are actually looking pretty decent for this mall with ?Dunham's opening and the furniture store looking to open as well. Although the back portion of the mall isn't being used, the side facing East Main Street is. Everything with the exception of one or two storefronts is now filled. Here's a look at the more plaza like Bradford Mall:

Dollar Tree actually opened after the mall went dead. It opened around the same time that Walmart across the street did. I found it interesting that Dollar Tree didn't open in the plaza on the hill by Walmart like a lot of the other former mall stores did and instead built their new location in the dead mall.

Formerly Woolworths

Label Shopper was a former CVS

It is worth noting that I didn't really take a picture of the health services center that is the newest thing to occupy a space. The reason I did this is because it isn't retail. Taco Bell and Sheetz have both announced plans to open on or near the Bradford Mall property in the near future. I'll be sure to take pictures of both once they are open and operational, possibly a picture or two during their construction.

Former JCPenney Auto & Firestone Auto. Currently being used as a beer distributor and ice cream parlor. Rumor would suggest that Sheetz may tear this down and build a store here.

Future Taco Bell in the parking lot of the Bradford Mall. The current owners also want to add a road to the stoplight for Walmart as seen in this picture allowing for better traffic access.

After 10 Years, a former Kmart Finally Sees New Life

Welcome to Bradford, PA. Home of, well, not much.... There is however a lot of retail history in this community located only 5 minutes south of the New York/Pennsylvania border. There is a dead mall (which I mentioned in the Warren Mall post) and a couple of other interesting things to see, but most of the action actually is in the suburb of Foster Brook which is where the dead mall is located. This post will focus on the former Kmart that sat next to the mall property, but did not have any mall access. The Bradford Mall will be covered in a separate post.

The abandoned Bradford Kmart back in 2013. It closed as a part of the 2003 wave of bankruptcy closings.

As time moved on, I finally came to understand why the property sat vacant for so long. The mall never owned it, it had been owned by others. Last year the Bradford mall owners bought it and the next thing I know is this happens:

A bit of work is done on the old Kmart.

Then Dunham's announces it will be opening in half of the former Kmart.

This kind announcement actually kind of took me by surprise, as it all happened rather quickly. With it now being open as of this post, I recently decided to check out the interior to see if any Kmart remains could be seen.

Dunham's kept the Kmart style of entrance.

I don't believe these restrooms were here when this store was a Kmart. If they were they were here, they weren't accessible to the public. I want to say Layaway would of been more to the left of this area, but I don't know for certain.

That's A LOT of guns....

Now I leave you with some pictures of the former garden shop area which still sits empty to this day.

As you can tell, in the actual Dunham's store they completely remodeled the store. The only evidence remaining that this was once a Kmart is on the outside. That's it for now, see you in the next post!