Pittsford, NY McDonald's

Although these pictures will be uploaded to my Flickr photostream at some point in the future, I have pulled them out of the vault for this special occasion. As I promised in Sunday's mini-post, these pictures are being shown here first as a celebration of the blog's 1,000 views. I have not yet uploaded them anywhere else, even though they were taken way back in March of this year. So snow will be visible at spots. (Yeah, I've got a lot of pictures to upload....)

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Whether it be because of a local building code or just because, this McDonald's located in Pittsford, NY is one that caught my attention late last year for a visit and I'm glad I decided to check out this location the first chance I had back in March. It was a regular location that was unlike any other I have ever visited, outside of the few that had a specific theme set to them.

Back entrance to the playground area. (Used as an emergency exit only.)

They even have an outdoor breezeway. Nice added touch.

Moving on into the interior. The two photos were taken in the store's mud room area, hence the reason for all the salt on the mat.

In and out doors. Both could be used.

More interior photos:

Sight upon entering.

Really like these chairs....

....and these windows.

And I really like this local pride sign.

This is where things REALLY get odd at this McDonald's. You probably noticed that the store has a playground, yet a playground was not seen up front. That's because it is in the very back of the store. To get to it, you must take a narrow hallway. It is the quite odd layout for a McDonald's.

 

Looking down the hallway from the playground area.

It's a shame that so many McDonald's seem to lose their identity with the new 'eyebrow' remodels, but at least this one still remains intact. Also seems that a lot of locations are dropping the playplace area, so it is also nice to see it here. Hopefully it stays around for awhile! 

Thanks for 1,000 Views!

Although this is a very short blog post, I want to thank everyone who has helped accomplish the milestone of 1,000 views. To celebrate, I will dive into some of my photos not yet uploaded to Flickr and do a post from them. So keep an eye out for the special post later this week!

Olean Center Mall

Unlike the previous two mall posts, this one is about a mall that is still operating to this day. Being my local mall, I can provide a lot of information on this smaller hometown mall built in 1976. Originally anchored by Hills and AM&As, it has seen multiple anchor changes in its anchors over the years. AM&As would become Bon Ton while Ames took over the Hills location. A former movie theater was turned into a JCPenney, which had moved from its location on the west side of town in a former Grant City. (Walmart now sits on the site.) As I mentioned in the first Bradford mall post, it is possible that JCPenney relocated to Olean as the two cities are only about 15 miles from each other. 

Ames would eventually close with the rest of chain leaving its building to sit empty for a couple of years before JCPenney moved for the third time (possibly fourth) in the area to fill the larger space. As a result, the old JCPenney space sat empty until Steve and Barry's moved in. Of course, just like Ames before it, Steve and Barry's would suffer the same fate by going bankrupt and leaving the space with no activity. In the meantime, a number of stores were pulling out. Some of these stores included Radioshack, Gamestop, GNC, CVS and local store Poor Cow Leather. Being another victim of bankruptcy, Rex appliances also closed during this time-frame. Some good news came in 2012 when not only one store opened, but two stores did. Kohl's opened in the former Steve and Barry's while Sears opened shop inside the mall itself.

Let's start with some exterior photos:

The main entrance.

One of the two back mall entrances. The back two entrances are exactly the same.

You can see the exterior entrance to a former McDonald's to the left in this picture.

Hills, then Ames and now JCPenney

Closeup of the former McDonald's entrance.

Peeking through the windows reveals the old McDonald's flooring style which can still be found at some older locations to this day. 

Originally AM&As, now Bon Ton

Originally a movie theather, then JCPenney, followed by Steve & Barry's and now Kohl's. 

The only exterior changes that were made here the removing of a triangle-shaped entrance from JCPenney to what it is currently and the brown area behind the Kohl's logo. The rest of the exterior remains the same from its days as JCPenney with the exception of the side entrance (which was where the salon and other services were located) being closed. Although I do not have a picture of it, you can still see where the side entrance was to this day though.

The shape of the mall is a T with a slight angle on the Bon Ton and Kohl's end. That angle is where photos of the interior will start.

Kohl's only changed the area around the entrance. The marble on the side is from JCPenney. 

One thing that is odd about this mall is that two of the three anchors are right next to each other. As mentioned above, that is thanks to the old movie theater becoming JCPenney.

Rue 21 took over the former Gamestop (on the left side of its store) when it expanded. Suedehead, a local company, has closed its location at the Olean Center Mall after this picture was taken.

You can see the slight angle in the background occurring. Seasons, the store on the immediate right is a combination of Hallmark and a book store. Also, Bath and Body Works and Hallmark were previously across the hallway in a space that Kohl's has since taken over. Seasons combined Hallmark with an existing bookstore to make a larger store, just like Rue 21 did. Bath and Body Works relocated to the former Sterling Optical space. (seen below)
The bench and grey carpet was previously a mall fountain.

This photo was taken in the same location as the picture above. You are just looking in the opposite direction. The white wall to the right was a Foot Locker.

The 'Whiteout Wall' brought to you by Kohl's. Kohl's took over at least one of the old stores as a stockroom area. Previously Bath and Body Works and Hallmark had stores here. They have since relocated as mentioned above.

A smaller FYE next to the 'whiteout wall.' 

Former Fashion Bug. Used as Spirit Halloween and ToyZam! seasonally.

Moving on down the side, Shoe Dept. manages to hang on next to local store Gift World.

The 'food court' portion as the mall owners call it. Not much food though.

Former local store Poor Cow Leather. Kay has since had this '80s logo removed. A better picture of this particular logo can be found on my Flickr photostream.

The intersection of the mall.

A hometown Sears store now occupies the former CVS.

Sears also uses this storefront. The majority of the storefront is used as Sears' stockroom while the front 1/3 is displays. For some reason the doors were closed at the time of the picture. Sears also uses another former vacant storefront on the left of the store for the same reasons. 

Former REX appliances now being used by Craft Co-op. Craft Co-op was previously in the former CVS space before Sears took it over.

Former McDonald's up close, followed by a former KB Toys and GNC all in a row. The former KB Toys and GNC spaces are now being used as a fitness place since this picture.

This mall isn't exactly healthy, but it isn't dead. I'm curious to see how the 'Walkable Olean' construction on the street that this mall is located on will effect this place. For now, it seems to do okay, but we'll see if that changes....

I leave you with a few historical ariel pictures, with credit given to Bing Maps.

Ames logo was still present for a couple of years before JCPenney took over the space.

JCPenney's old location at the mall.

Return Visit to the Bradford Mall

Time for a brief update on the status of the Bradford Mall I posted about last month. This time I have photos from inside the mall itself, which were not taken by me. I was contacted by one of the blog's readers via e-mail and here some interior pictures of the mall that he took:

Former Fashion Bug on the left.

Former Ames entrance close-up.

Looking inside the former Fashion Bug.

The following two pictures would be from the center court. You can make out the blue wall in the first photo for a better idea of the position. 

Lastly, here's a picture of some of the improvements being done to the mall structure:

Ironically, these pictures were taken about a month or so ago, right around the time I was here taking some. The contributor was invited to take a tour of the mall which is why he was able to get some interior pictures. 

In other news since my post last month, Taco Bell has begun construction. I have one picture I took of the first stages while I was in Bradford for a doctor's appointment. This picture was taken by myself.

I want to thank our anonymous contributor for the interior pictures of the Bradford Mall. If there are more of you fellow readers that have pictures from the Twin Tiers coverage area, past or present, please feel free to send them in if you would like. You can contact me at natehenderson6@gmail.com. As a reminder, the Twin Tiers coverage area are the counties shown here: