Laurel Mall is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

which opened in 1973 just northwest of

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second largest city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on Decembe ...

, United States. It features three current anchor stores,

Boscov's Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with forty-nine locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of these stores are located in Pennsylvania. Corporate headqu ...

, Dunham's Sports with one anchor jointly occupied by

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loca ...

and Hobby Lobby; TJ Maxx is a junior anchor. 10-theater

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

and

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

are outparcels. The mall is managed by Lexington Realty.

History

20th century

Opened in 1973, the mall was developed by Associates of the Eighties. It initially featured two

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

s: Zayre at the west end, and " Fowler, Dick, and Walker, the Boston Store" at the east end. Original tenants included GNC,

Hickory Farms Hickory Farms, LLC is an American food gift retailer with headquarters in Chicago. Richard Ransom established the company in 1951 when he began selling handcrafted cheese at local fairs. By 1959, the company added summer sausage and opened its fi ...

Karmelkorn Karmelkorn was an American popcorn retailer. It was founded in 1928 in Casper, Wyoming, by Mr. and Mrs. William O'Sullivan. The O'Sullivans patented their candy-coated popcorn and trademarked the product's name and logo in 1929. Initially, they l ...

, Waldenbooks, Rea & Derrick Drugstore, and an A&P supermarket, of which only GNC remains and moved within the mall in 2016.

took over the Fowler, Dick & Walker store in 1981, and Zayre sold to

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Oklah ...

in 1989. Construction of a new wing anchored by

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

began in 1993. Also that year, the Ames store closed and began conversion to a Kmart, which opened in September 1994. Boscov's expanded by in 1994, and the mall interior was renovated with skylights and new flooring. McCrory Stores closed at the mall in 1995. One year later, Ben Franklin Crafts replaced it. The space is now

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

. A Hoyts movie theater opened next to the mall in 1998.

21st century

In July 2005, the mall was sold by

PREIT Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers mostly in the Mid-Atlantic states. History The company was founded by Sylvan M. Cohen in 1960 as one of the first equi ...

to Laurel Mall, LLC for $33.5 million, including assumed debt of $22.6 million. In August 2008, radio station

WBHT WBHT (97.1 MHz) and WBHD (95.7 FM) are co-owned commercial FM radio stations serving the Wilkes Barre - Scranton - Hazleton area of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The two stations simulcast a Top 40 (CHR) radio format and are owned by Cumulus Medi ...

sponsored a performance by the

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

Menudo at Laurel Mall. On January 15, 2014, it was announced that the JCPenney store would be closing as part of a plan to close 33 locations nationwide. In 2014, Laurel Mall, LLC changed management companies from LMS Realty to Lexington Realty International. On May 6, 2015, it was announced that Dunham's Sports would be opening in the former JCPenney space. It opened on October 16, 2015. In August 2016, a marketing manager claimed 96.6 percent capacity, and construction was underway for TJ Maxx to "take up almost the entire northwest corner of the mall" in November.

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

announced in January 2018 that it would be closing 64 Kmart stores, including the one at Laurel Mall in early April 2018. A

location was announced for 2020; construction was delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and not completed until the end of the year, with the exercise equipment being put into place just before its early 2021 opening. A Hobby Lobby franchise opened in January 2021.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1973 establishments in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Shopping malls established in 1973 Shopping malls in Pennsylvania