Viewmont 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 ...

located in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

. It is 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 ...

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 ...

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

Field & Stream ''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020. History ...

, and

HomeGoods HomeGoods is a chain of home furnishing stores headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was founded as a small chain in 1992, and grew to include hundreds of locations throughout the United States. HomeGoods sells furniture, linens, cooking ...

History

Viewmont Mall cost $10 million to construct and the original anchors included

Grant's Grant's is a blended Scotch whisky, produced by the company William Grant & Sons in Scotland. History In 1886, William Grant started working in the distillery business as a bookkeeper. In 1898, Pattison's, the largest Scotch whisky blende ...

and

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 ...

. Sears opened first at the mall in February 1968, with JCPenney later opening in October. Grant's closed at the Viewmont Mall in 1976 and was replaced by

Hess's Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1897 with one store, originally known as Hess Brothers, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its peak in the late 1980s. The chain's stores were closed or sold ...

the same year. Hess's built a larger store starting in 1987. Sears received major changes in 1993 that roughly doubled the store's size. Hess's closed in late summer 1994, and was replaced by

Kaufmann's Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Summary The store was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of the famous Fallingwater house. In the post-war years, the store became a regi ...

in Fall 1995. Viewmont, along with

Wyoming Valley Mall Wyoming Valley Mall is a shopping mall located in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania. It is anchored by JCPenney and Macy's. History Work began on the mall in April 1968, when the land was purchased from the Blue Coal Corporation. Illegally dum ...

was sold by

Crown American Crown American is a privately held American company that manages and develops commercial real estate. The corporate headquarters is in downtown Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in a building designed by architect Michael Graves. History The company wa ...

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 ...

in 2003. Kaufmann's was renamed

in September 2006. Viewmont Mall received a major renovation in 2007. The malls food court in 2014 received significant changes including the addition of

Buffalo Wild Wings Buffalo Wild Wings (originally Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, hence the nickname BDubs, or BW3) is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Unit ...

. Sears closed in mid-2016 and was demolished later in the year. PREIT knew Sears would not remain at the mall several years before its lease expired.

and

were announced as Sears replacement in April 2016 with the dual store opening in September 2017.

opened in August 2017 next to Field & Stream, on former Sears space. Dick's Sporting Goods and Field & Stream temporarily shut down at end of January 2023. The store was converted into a Dick’s House of Sport with an opening date scheduled for August.

References

External links

Viewmont Mall official website

Viewmont Mall - Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust website
{{Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Malls Shopping malls in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Scranton, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Shopping malls established in 1968 1968 establishments in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust