Neshaminy Mall is a shopping mall located at

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

and Bristol Road in

Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The township borders the northeastern section of Philadelphia and includes the communities of Andalusia, Bensalem, Bridgewater, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, Flushing, Oakford, Sil ...

. The mall was opened in 1968 and was the sixth interior mall constructed in Greater Philadelphia. The Neshaminy Mall is anchored by

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 ...

and

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

and has 65 shops and eateries including a food court that was opened in 1989 and retailers including

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

and

Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an Americans, American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in ...

. The Neshaminy Mall is directly across Bristol Road from Belmont, a historic home. The mall was named after the nearby

Neshaminy Creek Neshaminy Creek is a United States Geological Survey. National Hydrography DatasetThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 stream that runs entirely through Bucks County, Pennsylvania, rising south of the borough of Chalfont, where its north a ...

and features a unique fountain, which features of a waterfall, trees, plants and a statue of Tawanka who was a leader of the

Lenni Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

Native American tribe. The world "Neshaminy" comes from the Lenni Lenape tribe's language. In the 2010s, the mall saw an increased vacancy rate.

Location

The Neshaminy Mall is located in Bensalem Township in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...

. The mall is located off of the

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

and

. The Neshaminy Mall is accessible through

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

's route and

Boulevard Direct The City Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operate almost all of Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest ...

bus routes. Across the street from the Neshaminy Mall is the Market Place at Neshaminy, which is a outdoor shopping center that has stores including

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

. Other nearby retailers and eateries include

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that serves American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded, and is mainly located in North ...

Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (, ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. Chipotle operates restaurants in the Unit ...

Bertucci's Bertucci's is an American chain of restaurants offering pizza and Italian food. It also offers delivery (from some stores), take-out and private dining. Bertucci's was founded by Joey Crugnale in Davis Square, Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1981 ...

and

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

History

Plans to build the Neshaminy Mall were made in 1966, with

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

and Strawbridge & Clothier to be anchors. The mall was projected to cost $24 million. The Neshaminy Mall opened in 1968, developed by The Korman Company and Strouse Greenberg. The mall underwent an expansion in 1975 that added a Lit Brothers, along with a new wing of stores. In 1977, the

Lit Brothers Lit Brothers was a moderately-priced department store based in Philadelphia. Samuel and Jacob Lit opened the first store at North 8th and Market Streets in 1891. Lits positioned itself well as a more affordable alternate to its upscale competitors ...

store at the Neshaminy Mall closed as part of the chain closing all its stores in the Philadelphia area and was replaced by Pomeroy's. The Pomeroy's store became

The Bon-Ton Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded in 1898. After rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, the original company had financial troubles, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2018 ...

in 1987 after the chain was sold. A food court was added to the mall in 1989. In 1990, the Neshaminy Mall was purchased by

Homart Development Company Homart Development Company, a Chicago-based subsidiary of Sears, was one of the largest builders of shopping centers and malls in the United States from 1959 to 1995. Company history As retail development in the United States shifted away from d ...

from

Mutual of New York The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (also known as Mutual of New York or MONY) was the oldest continuous writer of insurance policies in the United States. Incorporated in 1842, it was headquartered at 1740 Broadway, before becoming a wh ...

for over $50 million. The Bon-Ton closed in 1994. In 1995, the mall underwent a renovation that expanded the food court. In addition,

replaced the former Bon-Ton. The same year, General Growth Properties took over ownership of the mall after it acquired

. A 24-screen movie theater to be built at the mall was approved by Bensalem Township in 1997 after they had initially opposed the project. In 1998, the 24-screen

opened in the mall at a cost of $11 million. The

Strawbridge's Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Center City Philadelphia flagship store was, in its day, a gracious urban emporiu ...

became

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

in 2006 after

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

acquired

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ch ...

in 2005. A former pet store in the Sears court was demolished and replaced with a Barnes & Noble In 2009. In 2015, the mall began a small renovation starting with signage at mall entrances, the main sign and an expansion of the Boscov's. On January 4, 2017, Macy's announced that its store would be closing in spring 2017 as part of a plan to close 68 stores nationwide. Since the announcement was made, the Macy's closed in early April. As of late 2017, the Neshaminy Mall has seen a slow, but noticeable increase in the vacancy rate, likely to increase more due to the departure of the Macy's. Brookfield Properties bought General Growth Properties in 2018, therefore giving Brookfield ownership of Neshaminy Mall. On October 15, 2018, it was announced the Sears store would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide as a result of the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The store closed in January 2019, leaving Boscov's as the only traditional department store at the mall. Plans were made to redevelop the former Sears anchor into a

Round One Entertainment , stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. In Japan, the amusement centers offer bowling alleys, arcade games, karaoke, and billiards. They also have a larger variation of Round One known as SpoCha, abbreviated for Sports Chal ...

space, however, these plans were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, it was announced that medical offices would take over the former Sears building. In March 2020, the former Macy's store was sold to SANT properties, who plans to convert the space into mixed use. Also, at the corner of the Macy's parking lot, a Wawa is in the planning stages to be constructed.

References

External links

* {{Philadelphia Malls Brookfield Properties Shopping malls in Pennsylvania Shopping malls established in 1968 Buildings and structures in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania