The Oxford Valley Mall is a two-story

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 ...

, managed and 85.5 percent-owned by the

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in India ...

, that is located next to the Sesame Place amusement park near Langhorne in Middletown Township,

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 English ...

. Its department stores are

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 ...

and

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 ...

. There is a food court on the second floor, which was originally the second floor of a Woolworth. An office building called One Oxford Valley is located next to the mall. With 130 stores, Oxford Valley Mall is currently the tenth largest shopping mall in Pennsylvania.

History

The Oxford Valley Mall was developed by The Kravco Company and opened in 1973. In 1986, the Gimbels store was converted to

Stern's Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Departmen ...

after Allied Stores purchased seven Gimbels locations in the Philadelphia area. That same year, Bamberger's became Macy's. In 1989,

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 ...

replaced Stern's after the latter closed several stores in the Philadelphia area. The mall underwent a renovation in 1990. In 1992, a separate, 10 screen movie theater was added behind Sears (4 new auditoriums were added in 2004). In 1995, the mall opened its food court on the second floor, replacing what had been the second floor of a Woolworth store. In addition, the mall replaced the spiral pedestrian ramp and fountain with a glass-enclosed elevator, upgraded the air conditioning system, and extensively renovated the

and Sears stores. All fountains were eventually removed with only the outdoor one remaining. The same year,

Wanamaker's John Wanamaker Department Store was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags. ...

was converted to

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

. In 1997, Hecht's became Strawbridge's after its parent company,

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 c ...

, acquired the Strawbridge's chain. In 2006, the Strawbridge's store closed as a result of

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 ...

acquiring May Department Stores, with Boscov's taking over the former store. The Boscov's store closed in 2008 as part of their restructuring. On October 15, 2018, Sears announced that its 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 on January 7, 2019. This left Macy's and JCPenney as the only anchors. In August 2019, a local news agency reported that Simon Property Group and multiple other related entities have proposed a plan to redevelop the mall and the surrounding property into a mixed use center, including the addition of a 600 unit high-end apartment complex in place of the former Wanamaker's/Boscov's anchor; that would include studio-2 bedroom units, a fitness center, indoor and outdoor common spaces, dog park, pools, full-time management, maintenance, and concierge services like dog walking on site. Other possible additions include new eateries, a “lifestyle complex,” new retailers, and refreshed office space. According to sources, an area of the parking lot will be used for the possible developments In December 2022, the long-vacant Wanamaker's/Boscov's anchor building was demolished to make way for future redevelopment.

References

External links

Oxford Valley Mall official website
{{Philadelphia Malls Simon Property Group Shopping malls in Pennsylvania Shopping malls established in 1973 Buildings and structures in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1973 establishments in Pennsylvania