The Gallery At Market East; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The placement of enclosed shopping centers in urban cores and downtowns in America has always been a bit curious and fascinating to us. Perhaps it’s because their designs must be creative in order to weave the structure into the existing built environment. Or maybe it’s because they challenge the very notion of the traditional downtown, which struggled with its identity after the automobile age brought clusters of stores into the suburbs and away from downtowns, outmoding them from the 1950s to the present day.
At any rate, most medium- to large-sized American cities have, or at one time had, some semblance of a mall downtown. Most of these malls were built as urban renewal projects starting in the 1970s as a response to the explosion of suburban malls, in order to compete with the suburbs and keep people and businesses from fleeing downtown areas. Some of them were built a bit later in successful downtown districts like Indianapolis (Circle Center, 1995) and Chicago (North Bridge, 2000). Many of these hatve also failed, succumbing to the conveniences suburban malls offer shoppers, such as free parking, less traffic, and convenience to home. Many downtown malls have also failed even after protracted periods of success, like the downtown malls in Salt Lake City, Columbus, Milwaukee, Rochester, Hartford, and many more. But why is this? In most large American cities, people still congregate downtown for work if not for play, and increasingly people are choosing to live closer to urban centers because of gas prices, culture, and other economic issues, not to mention commuting is a pain.
Center City Philadelphia is full of shopping destinations, most of which center around Market Street, the major east-west thoroughfare through downtown. Along Market Street are several small atriums and enclosed shopping facilities, but only a few of them really function as malls per se, and The Gallery at Market East is by far the largest of them at 1.1 million square feet. It opened in 1977 (with a major expansion in 1984), and is currently anchored by Burlington Coat Factory and K-Mart, with Modell’s, Old Navy, and Pay/Half taking junior anchor space. I probably needn’t say more after that, except that the Gallery only holds a modicum of success today when compared to still-successful downtown malls in other cities like Chicago. But why?
The Gallery’s layout and design are the most interesting features of the center overall, combined with the mall’s facade and how it interacts with the street. The main entrance of The Gallery along Market Street provides a portal of access not unlike entering a large fortress. Because the ground level of The Gallery is subterranean, a wide staircase leads down from the street to sets of doors, which are flanked along a tall wall of glass. Although this entrance looks impressive from the inside of the mall, the outside of this facade is in a rather small space and easily glanced over. In addition, the rest of the street facade is also unremarkable, outdated, and awkward. Gallery East also does a poor job with continuity, and breaks the space in between Independence Hall, downtown, and Chinatown abruptly rather than connecting these areas of the city with a pedestrian-friendly theme.
The layout of the mall itself consists of four main levels in two “Gallery” developments, Gallery I and Gallery II, which opened in 1977 and 1984, respectively. Gallery I was the first development and consisted of the block between 10th street and the former Strawbridges. Gallery II was a westward extension of Gallery I ending at the former JCPenney (now Burlington Coat Factory); today, the I and II distinctions are mostly gone and the mall is simply known collectively as The Gallery At Market East. The first mall level is subterranean and goes throughout the length of the entire mall, from the former Strawbridge’s anchor in the east to Pay/Half on the west end, spanning nearly two blocks and going underneath K-Mart. The next level of the mall is at street level, and spans from the former Strawbridges in the east directly through K-Mart in the middle, where it is discontiguous at 10th street and shoppers must go outside and cross the street (or go up or down a level) to come back in again to continue across to Burlington Coat Factory. The third and fourth levels go from the vacant Strawbridges directly through middle anchor K-Mart and comes out on the other side, ending at Burlington Coat Factory, except the third and fourth levels converge to go through K-Mart.
Throughout The Gallery’s history turmoil has taken its toll right from the beginning. As soon as the project was announced, city leaders and developers were criticized for the city’s infusing money into the project at the expense of Philadelphia’s beleagured neighborhoods away from downtown. Obviously the irony that the city ponied up money to compete with the suburbs at their own game while other parts of the city suffered, also because of suburbs, wasn’t lost. In addition, during its early periods of success Gallery I was the site of numerous protests due to the fact that no black entrepreneurs owned any of the businesses there despite the fact that a great percentage of Philadelphia is black. Oops.
Nonetheless, The Gallery at Market East enjoyed decent period of success, through the 1980s and into the 1990s. By that time, even though the center was integrated into SEPTA’s system with three stations, it was still obvious that the mall itself just didn’t ‘feel’ integrated into downtown and the surrounding areas. Because the area to the east is a heavily trafficked tourist area, The Gallery should present a welcoming facade to them with high street visibility on the Market Street facade, drawing them into the mall, and vice versa from the City Hall side, where locals use the mall’s entrances for a bite to eat at the food court, shopping, or to enter SEPTA. In addition, the indoor corridors of the mall’s four-level structure could also be updated with warmer fixtures and lighting.
Anchor and tenancy issues haven’t helped The Gallery’s plight either. The original anchor and stalwart for all of downtown Philadelphia shopping was the flagship for Strawbridge and Clothier, which became the east end of the mall in 1977. Macy’s, who ended up purchasing the Strawbridge chain, decided to close this location in 2006; it’s still vacant as of August 2008. The original west anchor was Gimbel’s, which later became the center’s middle anchor after Gallery II opened in 1984. After Gimbel’s closed in 1986, this anchor became Stern’s and Clover before K-Mart in 1999. The west anchor, JCPenney, opened with Gallery II in 1984 and closed, later becoming Burlington Coat Factory which it is today. The in-line roster of stores has also degraded somewhat after having a more upscale set of stores some 15-plus years ago; today, many of the stores selling apparel are urban wear, discounters, or shoe stores. The food court has, however, remained viable due to the amount of foot traffic from people accessing the train and tourists in the area.
Some redevelopment plans and steps in the right direction for The Gallery have emerged over the years. In 2006, PREIT, the company who owns The Gallery, acquired the vacant Strawbridge’s flagship and have been shopping it around, mostly to uninterested parties.
In short, The Gallery At Market East could be a wonderful centerpiece for downtown Philadelphia, connecting a multiplicity of neighborhoods and peoples with a far more upscale line-up of stores and services than it has today. With its accessibility and location, it has the potential to be both visually and economically stimulating to the city of Philadelphia, and in a city living in the shadows of the east coast this is probably not a bad idea. Instead, The Gallery is slowly withering and even dying, earning a sour reputation among Philadelphians. Normally I would suggest milking a mall’s decline for all its worth, but not here. Normally I would advocate the placement of Burlington Coat Factory, Pay/Half, and K-Mart, because these viable stores are better than nothing. But not here. This area can do far better. That is, if it gets in gear and makes some renovations and changes to not only bring the mall into this century, but to bring different parts of Philadelphia together. It could really be nothing short of amazing.
The pictures featured here were taken by me in July 2008. Feel free to add your own stories, information, comments, or reactions in the comments section.
on August 25th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
The Gallery is certainly looking a lot better than it was. When I last visited many, many years ago, it was a dark and dingy place, and everything seemed like it was done on the cheap. You couldn’t really tell if this was a mall, or a transit center, or what. It combined these elements poorly. Unfortunately the Burlington Coat Factory is the death knell of pretty much any mall.
Seeing these pictures certainly makes it look more like a mall, and the super easy train access *should* make this a very popular destination. However, I think that hulking mass known as King of Prussia has certainly done something to keep people away.
on August 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Wait, didn’t this already have a blog post?
on August 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Wait, didn’t this already have a blog post?
on August 26th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Very sad to see the state of this place as I do agree that it has potential. At least the mall still has one fountain left (I think there was another large one at the main entrance, but I’m not sure if it’s there anymore). Urban malls built at this time were thougt of as escapes from the city and city streets and were therefore built with that in mind. As a result, the only street access the mall had was an occassional entrance, as well as the anchors. Really nothing to draw people in. Other urban malls such as Stamford Town Center, The White Plains Galleria and the Shops at National Place had this major flaw. Urban Centers such as Providence Place and the Shops at Liberty Place (right down the street) have fixed that flaw. STC has also fixed it with their recent renovations.
If The Gallery fixes up its interior making it more current and also its streetscape, it could definitely bounce back and be as successful as The Shops at Liberty Place and The Shops at Bellvue.
on August 26th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Really nice mall. Had no idea there were this many downtown malls, after showing the ones in Utah and West Virginia. That is an interesting design the way the potted plants are sitting in holsters that line the upper level rails. I agree it is a little dated and maybe could use some more color. My first impression was that there is too much white. But to be honest, I like really do like dated malls, it just keeps reminding me of how much better older malls were concieved in their concepts and just had so much more heart and soul. I do like the design of the mall in pictures, but it does sound complicated and kind of hard to understand the description of the layout. There appear to be a few too many local and urban shops, as well as the discount achors, for a mall that looks like it was meant to be much more upscale. The pictures make it look more upscale until you enlarge them and see all those local shops. Maybe it could be developed with better stores in the future if there is some kind of resurgence in downtown that could meet a demand for more upscale stores in downtown.
on August 26th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Reminds me of Golf Mill, in which the mall cuts through one of its anchors.
Still, that’s one haphazard design, just looking at that directory. The mall’s interiors still have remnants of the 1980s that recall to me of Milwaukee’s downtown (Grand Avenue) mall in its thriving years.
Like you, I’m also dumbfounded as to why the mall’s not more successful. I mean…access from the train that runs through the city, all the people that work downtown, people moving back into the city to get away from the ‘burbs. It should be doing a ripping business.
I’d say weak anchors. K-mart and Burlington Coat are not quite what I’d call ‘draws’. Lots of ‘discount-y’ types of stores too it seems like.
on August 26th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Jamie:
That particular neighborhood of Philadelphia is OK, as is most of Center City. Very similarly to Galleria Vittorio Emanauel in Milan, it is at the convergence of two distinct neighborhoods: Center City and Old City/Society Hill, which is both an historic area (Independence Hall is located not far) and an affluent area. The Gallery suffers as a result of its design flaws, its uninviting streetscape and the fact that PREIT has not put much capital into it since its acquisition. This was originally designed by Rouse, who had done other urban malls (both indoors and outdoors) at this time.
As we had all stated, a major renovation, both interior and exterior, could definitely give new life to the Gallery at Market East.
on August 26th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Matt,
I agree, this mall looks very reminiscent of Grand Avenue in its former glory. The problem with urban malls, as I see it anyway, is how they are positioned. Matt, let me ask you, when you are done with work, do you go shopping? Most of the time probably not, right. You go home. .The people that work downtown do not have time to shop on their lunch hours, generally speaking, nor do they want to shop after a tiring day at the office. And most people still live outside of the downtown area and commute to work. It is not a destination for them or anyone.
So, how can these malls position themselves to work for the people that actually LIVE downtown? By recreating themselves as centers of convenience. The malls have to have hours conducive to night time shopping, after dinner. A pharmacy like Walgreens with a 24 hour drive through perhaps. A grocery chain would be a welcome addition downtown, to pick up a meal on the way home. Lower end discount stores like Target would provide downtown consumers with an arena of convenience, given longer hours like 10 p.m. for these anchors as opposed to traditional department store anchors. An Office maxx makes sense.
An IHOP is something Milwaukeans have been asking for in their downtown for awhile. A good coffee shop could create a gathering place, and if the concept were open air enough, I could see meeting clients there instead of Starbucks in the local strip center. I have found that clients love meeting in these places as opposed to a stuffy office. Give it a theme; make it different. How about a coffee shop with an adjacent location and access to a business center like Kinko’s. Provide a few monitors and computers at a few tables and you’ve got something.
In Milwaukee the post office is across from the mall, a few blocks over. Hell, put a branch of the post office IN the mall instead. WE Energies is across the street from the mall. Put a bill payment center IN the mall instead. The DMV is across from the mall a few blocks over. Put it IN the mall and you have a captive audience with plenty of (waiting) time on their hands, before their number is called. Add a GOOD drycleaner. We already have an alteration shop in our mall downtown. It is one of the few stores where I actually see activity, so that is an indication that people are looking for service oriented businesses downtown. If they won’t come on their own, MAKE them come.
Now, the most important part: make it accessible and parking plentiful.
With this ‘core’ in place, other stores might have a chance of attracting weekend or night time business. Filling the mall with traditional mall stores is not going to bring back our downtown malls.
on August 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
No, this mall wasn’t posted before, but it was mentioned in an article we wrote about 2 years ago about the former Strawbridge’s being purchased.
Functionality notwithstanding, I really liked this mall and the confusing, creative devices used in its design and the impressive glassy center court in the east half. I was actually kind of surprised when I came home to research the mall a little bit more and found out Philadelphians consider it a joke, dead, full of awful stores, or all of the above. It seemed packed to me, and the vacancy rate isn’t terribly high. I guess it’s just that it could be much, much better like it was when it opened.
on August 26th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
KOP is a short car or bus ride away with numerous restaurant choices in the mall or across Gottard Boulevard from J C Penny where the Best Buy & the UA theatres are located. This negates any reason for shopping trips into Center City.
Mallguy,
Your comparison to stamford & White Plains are right on, remember both Stamford & White Plains have downtown areas that are reemerging as complete communities with housing, small shop retail, big boxes & restaurants. There’s street activity day & night. Your discription of the galleria really points out the most criticle flaw, not having any intigration with the rest of downtown.
For the Gallery to survive, they must correct the same flaws that the Galleria has, plus make Center City a 24 hour neighborhood with restaurants, bars & mager retailers. Including drug stores , supermarkets & places to get itoms for day to day needs.
To top this all off the area MUST have the residential mass to support the stores, if not the area will continue to suffer, sending shoppers to the 19406.
on August 26th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Saw this one in its better days (’91) and a couple years ago, as well as in the late 90s. Even in better times, Market Street, itself, was dead and that masked the liveliness of the mall, itself. More recently, it seems like everything around the mall has gained life (including the once low-end Chestnut Street retail area), while the mall is in visible decline. It may be 95% occupied, but it probably is not generating the kinds of rents that it could. Better integration into the nearby neighborhoods would be a plus and they may need to scarifice one of the department store shells or some of the street level space to achieve that.
As an aside, successful urban malls aren’t the only story in their areas. Water Tower Place succeeded (and still succeeds) in Chicago, because it anchored an existing shopping/business corridor and brought in new stores.The other malls on Michigan Avenue have never succeeded as well, They brought department stores, but provided no real anchors. Michigan Avenue, itself, is more successful than any of them. The original downtown malls like The Arcade in Cleveland (now a hotel, but successful as a retail office complex for decades), functioned like this and tied shopping streets to more office-oriented corridors or tied together different shopping streets (the smaller Colonial and Euclid Arcades did this in Cleveland). The one really successful mall like Market East that I’ve seen is Eaton Center in Toronto, which is extrodinarily busy, but which also has choked the life out of its surroundings, which remain pretty downscale.
on August 26th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I can see this mall being gone in a couple of years. Looks very cheap. I wouldn’t have a reason to go in there.
on August 26th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
“Lead is lethal - Get kids tested!”
I laughed when I saw this, how corney is that? I’m sure the mall is just self-promoting health, but my question is…
Where would these so called “kids” get lead from, the mall itself?
To which kids are you talking about? I think I should just grab someones kid and test them for lead.
I’m sure if someone did that to your child, you would think that they are a sexual preditor / rapist.
ANYWHO, this mall has some nice decor, however it’s lacking in the fashion department.
I’m sure they don’t need 100000 billion shoes stores, with the same generic brands, a few is enough. or more with variety for that matter.
Two, it’s lacking a regular anchor. Burlington Coat Factory Kmart, Old Navy, & the other anchors mentioned are DISCOUNT stores. If the mall had at least two regular department stores, that haven’t been purchased or gone out of business, then we could see more business.
This reminds me of Tower City Center in Cleveland, however it opened to much fanfare, and more upscale stores for the executive downtown workers due to large presents of company buildings, now its full of “ghetto” looking shoe stores & urban clothes stores.
on August 26th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
has anyone ever died from falling off the 3rd floor?
on August 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
AceJay: no, it just mentioned PREIT buying the old Strawbridge’s.
I actually parked on this one’s parking garage, not knowing the mall was inside. It’s well-hidden.
on August 26th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Like I said, some people (read: tourists) just don’t see it, buried in historic buildings. I really have nothing against this mall, even Big Kmart seems fairly nice. It’s just that it’s a crying shame that, like Mallguy said, a good location: a convergence of a tourist area and an upscale area. I think maybe some exterior signage would be nice, maybe including the word “mall” in the signage, adding a few more “convenience” tenants (like CoryTJ said), and maybe adding a few festival marketplace-like tourist/gift shops. Not necessarily little statues of Ben Franklin, but neat stuff that really does say “Philadelphia” and innovation.
on August 26th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I stopped at the food court here sometime in the Spring (on a Saturday) and it was full of people. Most were not, to put it nicely, the “upper crust”, but they were shoppers and living in Bucks County I know Philadelphia doesn’t need upscale stores like Nordstrom, or even a sears or a Boscov’s. The Strawbridge’s is just too big for one store, it should include several anchors. And the mall does have at least somewhat of a connection with people, Santa shows up here every December (I think on a fire truck or something that gets it on the news).
I would suggest something like a Steve & Barry’s, except for that minor “going out of business completely bankrupt” thing. Maybe a value City/Stein Mart could work, but trying to change the mall to a real mall simply won’t work, the fancy shops are on Broad Street, as are the fancy eateries, and fast food has taken shelter in Liberty One so in my opinion they’re better off living with what they have.
on August 27th, 2008 at 12:44 am
The Gallery’s in a bad situation, and I’m not sure how PREIT can turn it around.
The first problem is that The Gallery was designed to be a middle-of-the-road shopping destination, but over the last 30 years Philadelphia’s economy has changed into one in which there is a solid pocket of affluence in Center City generally surrounded by vast rings of poverty at worst and lower-middle-income areas at best (with some exceptions). The result is that the customers that The Gallery was designed to serve — the same people who shopped at Gimbels and Stern’s back then and who likely shop at Boscov’s today — just don’t exist in Philadelphia anymore in the numbers they once did. Instead, those customers are out in the suburbs, where they’re shopping at places like Franklin Mills and Exton Square. The upper-income people who live in Center City today are interested in upscale retail, and upscale retail in Philadelphia wants to be along Walnut Street near Rittenhouse Square or increasingly along once-moribund Chestnut Street. As upscale retail has gravitated to the southern and western sides of downtown, The Gallery has become the de facto shopping center for the impoverished or struggling areas that make up most of the rest of Philadelphia (places like Chestnut Hill and the Great Northeast excepted). That’s exacerbated the replacement of middle-of-the-road retailers with local shops, particularly those specializing in denim, sneakers, and other urban styles. The result is a snowball effect, in which a broader base of customers has decamped for the suburbs or Walnut Street, leaving The Gallery only to attract the low-end discounters and local shops that exist today.
The second problem is that, as with many struggling malls, The Gallery has also picked up a (probably undeserved) reputation as a dangerous place to hang out. In part that’s driven by the fairly sketchy underground concourse that connects two of the subway stations beneath The Gallery, but the result is yet another psychological hurdle to attracting more shoppers to The Gallery.
The third problem is that there’s really no other niche left for The Gallery to fill. Upscale shopping is centered on Walnut Street and King of Prussia. Midscale shopping is throughout the suburbs. Philadelphia’s neighborhoods are filled with the kind of services people need in their daily lives, and nobody is going to skip the neighborhood post office, dry cleaner, or market to get those services in a mall when they’re already likely located on the same block.
And yet, redevelopment of The Gallery is crucially important to Philadelphia. Over the last 15 years, Center City Philadelphia has begun an incredible renaissance. Thousands more residents live downtown, destination retail has returned to downtown, and the restaurant scene has become one of the best in the country. In large part, this redevelopment has occurred in areas that are unconnected but only blocks apart. The biggest impediment in linking the growth in the Old City/Independence Hall area with that happening along the City Hall/Avenue of the Arts corridor are the blocks of Market East, in particular The Gallery.
on August 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Sort of reminds me of the old Worcester Common Fashion Outlets in my city of Worcester, MA. That sort of not-very-welcoming, not-very-accessible downtown mall placed desperately, haphazardly because it was better than what was there. I think you’re right, though, that it’s got a lot of potential. Especially in a city the size of Philly, a bit of sprucing up would probably help it considerably. And with direct connections to mass transit in the center of downtown, how could you not make it work? I don’t know anything about Philly, I admit, but I agree that there’s lots of potential here.
on August 28th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Craig’s analysis makes a lot of sense. The owners need to be creative and look for niches that are not being addressed in Center City. Big boxes that appeal to a middle/upper-middle bracket clientelel would help, although they often stay away from malls. Making the mall more open to the street would help. The 1970s “riot modern” kind of design would be less ncessary if the ground floor retail was better designed. If the food court is working then one direction might be to add more dining choices and gradually take things more upscale. Some simple changes like buying out the K-Mart lease and bringing in traget would help..Tenants like gyms are increasingly common in urban malls and might be one way to create destination space on the upper floor which is probably the most difficult to rent, although tenants like gyms may reduce foot traffic if their not placed right. Converting some of the anchor space to offices would create new traffic for the mall and, at the same time, reduce the amount of space that needs to be filled. By themeleves none of these fixes would work, but a combination would change the merchandise mix and cleintele for the mall..
on August 29th, 2008 at 2:00 am
i shop k mart i like the changes thay are making dont count them out thay ben in the mall through the hard times mabe tay deservre to stay. every butty is not rich mabe thay should fill the empty space first like the big empty department store thay all ready have not cerate another one. oh and by the way i like burlington also i think there reputation as the dead mall storer is because owqners wate tell so many things are wrong that thay stand no chance of saving there mall tomarow the new burlington opens in regency mall in racine wi. the mall will have all four ancor spots filled with stores of all levels it is truly a mall for every one i have not been to the gallarey but wood love to see the malls in the philly areia it looks to be in much better shape than milwaukes grand ave and i feel that ther is still hope for that one so there is also hope for the gallery
john
on August 30th, 2008 at 3:04 am
I remember taking the train from the burbs to Market East (probably about 12 years ago) with my mom to go shopping at Strawbridge’s and some of the other stores (Burlington Coat Factory used to be Penney’s), and the mall certainly has changed. About 5 years ago I moved to University City to go to college, and I’d sometimes take the El to The Gallery to go to K-Mart for crap for my dorm, and wow how it had changed. I’d go to the K-Mart (which is sort of expensive for a K-Mart) and go to Strawbridge’s to shop, but that was it. There’s a Gap that I may have gone into, but a majority of the stores were urban themed or discount (Pay/Half, Payless Shoes, for instance) and just not my thing. The decor is also rather datede, and occasionally it is kind of dirty inside. When Strawbridge’s closed I got smart, brought my car down, and shopped on Delaware Ave or went to CHM or KOP. It’s a shame that management can’t clean this place up and attract more upscale stores, but I wonder if it is too late, with more and more upscale shops already moving to Rittenhouse area (Sephora, among others, have opened in the past year there).
on August 31st, 2008 at 11:53 pm
The Gallery is never going to get any kind of major change…although the area around it may be higher-class, its a Septa (train) station. People of all kinds just use the mall as a shortcut or a giant loitering area, with workers coming in to fill the food courts. I never even thought of The Gallery as a real mall. There is no way a high end department store could survive in there..JCPenney couldn’t even make it.
on September 2nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
in va there have at least several atempts at opening downtown malls two in richmond alone the now destroyed 6′th street marketplace, at was anchored by thalhimers & miller & rhodes & main street station, & in norfolk by parkside marketplace.
on September 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I believe there was a Lucille Roberts gym on the 4th floor, but I think that closed about a year ago. Also interesting to the location is that the PA Convention Center is actually accessible to the Gallery at 13th Street. With all the influx of people frequently coming for conventions, it is somewhat surprising that this place isn’t a little nicer.
on September 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I live in Philly right now and the only time I actually “shop” in the Gallery is if I find myself in the area (ie. on the way to Chinatown or Reading Terminal Market via SEPTA). I only visit a handful of stores in there because most of them don’t interest me, although they do have this cool kiosk on the lower level selling only kung-fu/martial arts movies, if you like that sort of thing. The mall layout is horrendous and I hate that they recently closed a lot of the stores I actually used to go to. Still, it’s a surprisingly busy place, especially near the food court.
on September 4th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but the original name of Strawbridge’s was Strawbridge’s & Clothier. I believe when the name changed in the late ’90s, the chain changed ownership. Also, Clover was a discount chain owned by the same company, but it disappeared when Strawbridge & Clothier became plain Strawbridge’s.
As an almost-lifelong resident of Philadelphia (I grew up in lower Roxborough, a neighorhood in the Northwest section of the city), I have a lot of memories of this mall — mostly how many things changed over the years and how others (like the signage) have always been the same. The one thing I noticed is, as South Street, another shopping destination for “average” Philadelphians (those from the neighborhoods and not downtown) like myself, improved this decade, The Gallery went into decline. I worked for three summers on South Street and, as the used book stores and record stores disappeared but the housing projects nearby were renovated, thus making the area look less dirty and dangerous, more “upscale” but independent stores seemed to pop up. But the Gallery, even when JC Penney’s was still there, became known as the “ghetto mall,” not for all of the high schoolers and homeless people you find there, but for the fact that everything became geared toward a more urban clientele. However, unlike South Street, which has more urban “designer” stores like City Blue/Lady Blue, Utica, and other smaller urban designer boutiques, the Gallery has gone a very discount route.
First, though, what wasn’t mentioned in this article was that The Gallery has two food courts, the larger one inside the mall and a smaller one near the train/subway stations.
As far as memories go, I remember shopping here a lot in the ’90s mostly because the mall didn’t have such an urban feel to it, and. back then, thr trult “ghetto mall” of the area was Cheltenham Mall, which has gotten better, from what I’ve heard. My mom, my sister, and I would go downtown — by train, because the train station at the bottom of our street took us directly to the Gallery — go to shopping for clothes, shoes, or music at the Gallery and then eat across the street at Reading Terminal Market. However, the last time I recall going there for clothes or shoes was in 1998 (I recall a sketchers store in the mall at this time), and, at the time, I prefered the Gallery to King of Prussia and the Plymouth Meeting Mall because it was in the city and, as a resident of Philadelphia, you kind of have a love-hate relationship with the suburbs.
But, in the late ’90s, early 2000s, I frequented this mall a lot after school. I was going to high school in the Northeast at the time and, to get home, I would take the Market-Frankford Line (the El) downtown and hang around the Gallery. During school days, the mall seemed to have activity but it was dead on weekends. Mostly, I went to the Gallery not to shop but to go to the smaller food court by the train station and then to look at the kiosks and go to The Wall/FYE. The place I used to go to was Adam’s Cafe, which had a mix of Asian and American food, smoothies, and other convenience store stuff. But, at times when I would eat in the food court, homeless people would come up to me to ask for money as I’d be sitting around and doing my calculus homework and eating lomein. As far as the other stores go, The Wall/FYE was very disorganized by this time but the kiosks used to have some cool things.
Another time, I had to go up to school on a weekend to help out at the Special Olympics. I tried climbing up a six-foot fence and ripped the back of my pants. After the event was over, I went downtown to the Gallery to get a pita wrap from the Greek place and walked around. On a Saturday, the mall was open but dead. By the time I got home, my mother noticed the huge hole I had in my jeans and, after cursing at me in Ukranian for a bit, asked me why I didn’t come home sooner. I told her I was walking around the Gallery. She asked me, “With a hole in your pants?” And I say something along the lines of, “Yeah, but no one is at The Gallery on a Saturday.”
I think the last time I was at the Gallery was in 2004. I was there to meet a friend across the street at PennDOT, but when she didn’t show, I went to the Gallery to take the El over to Kensington. The woman in the token booth wouldn’t take my transfer — the 9 bus only stops at Chesnut street, not the Gallery, so it’s not a “true” transfer (God, I had how SEPTA can be asinine sometimes) — so I went into the mall to look for an ATM, stopped at Adam’s cafe for a smoothie, and then took the El. I recall it being kind of dead, although stores and resturants were still open. Mostly, I think as long as the El and regional rail are running, the Gallery is open. Although, I recall I went there on a Sunday, and the mall was so creepy I decided not to take the train and take a SEPTA bus through West Philly to go home.
I don’t know if this is of any significance, but, over the years, I do remember the 11th street stop (the El station at the Gallery) getting a reputation for violence. The last incident I remember hearing about was a woman getting stabbed in the back of the neck while waiting for a train, but, since I’ve been in New England for six years, I really don’t know if anything has happened there since then.
on September 6th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Another thing — someone had mentioned the signs about testing your children for lead. Sometime ago, in 1999 or 2000 I believe, the public schools in Philadelphia were tested for lead in the water. It turned out that, after testing the largest schools, the percentage of lead in the drinking water was too high and all drinking fountains were shut off. I haven’t lived in Philly in over 6 years, but maybe this is still an issue in the city. After all, there are advertisements telling you to get exercise, and a few years ago, Philly was listed as the “fattest city.” I don’t think they necessarily pertain to the Gallery, as the Gallery is far more cleaner than most public schools in the city, but more of a general reminder to those at the mall.
on September 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
In that picture of the Big Kmart, there’s a woman holding a Macy’s bag. Where did that come from? There’s no Macy’s in this mall!
on September 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Jonah Norason,
Macy’s is close by in the Old Lord and Taylor/Wanamaker’s flagship store. Macy’s took over the Lord and taylor store in 2006.
on September 8th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Yeah, there’s a standalone Macy’s about 2 blocks down Market Street. In a more interesting scenario they could make the mall much larger and have it end at Macy’s, but I don’t think that’s really necessary.
on September 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I’ve visited this mall twice when I traveled to Philly. It definitely isn’t much to write home about. It doesn’t have many national retailers, and it is so confusing to navigate between the different levels. To make it worse, the Kmart splits the mall in half making the Gallery II separate from the other half. I don’t think this mall could be saved, considering that Rittenhouse Square is only steps away. It would be pretty hard to replace the Strawbridge Anchor spot with another department store - it should probably be converted into office or hotel space. This is another case of hasty quick fix solution of adding a mall to drive traffic into a downtown, only to quickly deteriote and fail.
on September 10th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
BREAKING NEWS!!
Foxwoods Casino is considering turning The Galley into a casino. For anyone not familiar with the Philadelphia area, there’s been talk for several years about one or more casinos being built along the Delaware River waterfront where abandoned factories and collapsing piers currently stand. Howevr, as in any big project, there’s major opposition and now Foxwoods is considered turning the Gallery into a slots parlor. It’s way too early to speculate on what will actually happen, but this could change the entire center city landscape.
See article: http://cbs3.com/local/foxwoods.casino.slots.2.814037.html
on September 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Based on that article, that means desperation has set in on how to upgrade the area.
Read the book “Winner Takes All” by Christina Binkly to understande more. Mostly set in Las Vegas, the book also explanes what happend in other communities desperite for cash like Tunica Mississippi. Phili falls into that same catigory.
The book is avaleable on CD & down loadable as well.
on September 11th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Turning the Gallery into a casino is one of the most rediculous things I have ever heard. Foxwoods is looking for a cheap, quick fix. Can you imagine…,.A CASINO BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE LIBERTY BELL? The project will be squashed within days. A casino within the city is a bad idea in general. It wont give Philadelphia a good image. The only places that can make gambling look somewhat good are Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
on September 11th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Lol are you people too lazy to go to Alantic City.
on September 11th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
philadelphia has an image? i dont think we have much left 2 ruin - worts happens is we tear it down in 3 years. and 4 your information Mr. D, its not that we’re too lazy, its that we have casions in bucks and delaware counties now.
on September 11th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
The Gallery is in need of serious help, but a casino? Really? That is the worse thing to happen. It will attract crime to an already troublesome area AND scare away tourists.
The fact that the Gallery is connected to the SEPTA system (which sounds suspiciously like SEPTIC system) gives the Gallery additional crime and literal filth, plus providing an easy place for kids to hang out with only a few transfers (this “universal hang-out syndrome” also caused Prestonwood Town Center in Dallas to go, and yes, that was an enclosed mall).
Ideally, the Gallery is a hub, connecting the various parts of Philly together. It should have a few mid-market stores, a few urban shops, a handful of touristy gift shops, a few shops catering to locals.
The food court should be moved down to floor one, signage should be better, and do something about Strawbridge’s.
Comments?
on September 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Read the book, you’ll have a better understanding of what is going on.
on September 11th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
There has been talk about casinos and slot parlors in PA and Philly for a while now, but what I’ve heard was mostly in the Penn’s Landing area. Penn’s Landing could use a little more help, but while the casino may work near Dave and Busters, it will not necessarily mesh with the Independence Seaport Museum and the rest of Penn’s. I do think that the piers and decks need to be rehabbed and convereted into dockside dining restaurants, bars, etc. They do have a few, but not enough; and many are discouraged since the pier collapse a few years ago.
I am vehemently against The Gallery being converted into a casino. If any neighborhood, a casino should NOT be located at the convergence of Center City and Old City/Society Hill. The mall can be saved, but it needs a lot of reworking, an updated streetscape adn a focus on dining and entertainment…Rittenhouse Square, The Shops at Liberty Place and Bellvue are the shopping destinations and should stay that way. You may have to slightly downsize, but bring in a large movie theater, an IMAX, a large bookstore and many restaurants, and you could have a viable entertainment destination…and all adjacent to SEPTA and the major tourist areas. Remember, the tourist areas and Center City are quite walkable (and safer than the rest of Philly), so this will cater to a good sized area.
on September 11th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Mallguy,
Not to long ago an AMC theatre was part of the rehab of the waterfront area. Steiner Associates of Easton fame is the developer. Several of there projects have AMC as the theatre tennent. In this case I don’t know what happend, but the theatre was removed from the original plan.
www.steinerassociates.com.
on September 11th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
My bad, it’s www.steiner.com.
Any way as far as a casino goes, we could turn this into a night time drama for ABC called “desperite politissions.” That’s exactly what it is, a means to balance the budget any way possible.
on September 11th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Sean: I don’t want to read some vague book on casinos, I want a straight answer on why the Mall can’t be reworked into a better mall.
on September 11th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
This sure won’t help.
83-year-old man from East falls nearly beaten to death at the Gallery.
STORY: http://www.nbc10.com/news/17453223/detail.html
Tear the damn thing down already and turn it into condominiums or more parking or anything better than this crime hole with a few stores that’s currently an eyesore everyone passing between Center City and Old City has to look at.
on September 12th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Glad to hear he survived, but seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Philly? The crime is rediculous.
on September 12th, 2008 at 9:23 am
If you want a derect answer Jonah, here it is, there’s no market for the Gallery as it stands. No reworking of this mall can save it. That is why Foxwoods is looking at that property, although a casino is not the best use for those buildings.
Could you imagine the entire Gallery being turned into a casino? I mean not just slots like Philadelphia Park, but more like Atlantic City with table games as well. What would happen to the area around the Gallery? Not only THAT, What about the traffic & the SEPTA trains that travel through there.
on September 12th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I doubt the Gallery will become a casino. It seems that, over the past ten years, developers have tried to “improve” Philly by creating plans for casinos because they’ll result in more money and jobs. I recall, probably earlier this decade, Donald Trump wanted to put a couple of casinos in north Philadelphia but that plan never materialized.
The Gallery was not a bad mall but it certainly can be cleaned up. Although SEPTA has a station in the mall, SEPTA stations are generally dirty, unpleasant places and, yes, SEPTIC is an accurate description of SEPTA. The Market East Train Station and the 11th Street El stop have attracted their share of violence over the years and have probably brought more into the Gallery than if the train station were across the street. But, sadly, most transit hubs in the city are like that.
A casino downtown is pretty ridiculous. Philly does have a reputation as a dirty, violent sh*thole at times, but a casino downtown? Downtown is generally one of the better sections of the city and, as a shopping area, the Gallery does have a good location and at one point, before Strawbridge’s and JC Penney left, it did have good stores.
on September 12th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
When Atlantic City got the OK to build casinos a rosey picture was drawn on how the city would be reborn. 30 years later the area really isn’t great, look at the slums just off the bordwalk as an example.
Does anybody believe that it would be any different in Philadelphia? I drove through part of the city where I-276 comes close to I-95, the area wasn’t to pleasant & it was after dark. A casino wouldn’t benefit the city unless the tax rate was 90% on all profits. Even with that, I to would agree it’s a bad idea.
on September 12th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
On Philly, as I said earlier, The Gallery needs to be redeveloped into an entertainment mall with streetside restaurants (think Harborplace or Providence Place…on a smaller scale) and entertainment anchors (e.g. Barnes and Noble, AMC, IMAX, etc). The mall may have to be rebuilt but it will be worth it. In terms of safety, the usual rule is don’t go north of Vine Street and the Vine St Expressway and farther afoot from the UPenn campus in West Philly after dark. I truly believe the Casino will ruin Center City, and believe it or not, Philly likes preservation…they did not build a direct access freeway ramp to/from the Ben Franklin Bridge because it would have destroyed Franklin Square.
On AC, Sean, it has come a lot farther along in the past 5 years and believe it or not, it’s due to new retail (The Walk, The Pier Shops, The Quarter). It’s still not perfect (and I would even say incomplete), but I do see a major difference. It would be nice to see a few more themed shopping areas in AC (e.g. a New Orleans themed shopping area/entertainment area at Showboat).
on September 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Mallguy,
You are correct on A C AS FAR AS RETAIL goes. It has made things somewhat better, but they have plenty to do to improve the cities immage beyond a gambling mecca. There are plenty of houses that need TLC & could serve as afordable housing for many families in need. also cant a city of 50,000 have at least a supermarket within city limits other than Waw Waw? Am I asking for to much here? Come on Donold Trump, Gary Loveman & others, open your wallets & do a city proud.
on September 15th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
@ Irene I was the one talking about the “testing children for lead” signs, thanks for the extra information, I was wondering why they had them.
on October 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 am
Great article. I used to live near the “ghetto mall” and shopped there frequently before my move to the suburbs. This mall is really pathetic. It caters to the lowest bargain shoppers, is dirty and outdated, and your safety is in question at times. It is a horrible shopping experience. I take the train through there once in a while and I am always glad that I moved out of the city. Last night I was taking the train through Market East (the station below the ghetto mall) and we were stuck on the tracks for an hour because of “police activity” at the station. Ghetto ghetto ghetto. They should tear it down and leave the station. That entire block of Market should have all of those low class businesses zone out and a higher caliber of retail storefronts opened.
on October 7th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Wow… fantastic website!!
I was born and raised in NE Philadelphia, but spent the better part of my weekends as a teenager downtown. As such, the revitalizations of some parts of Center City (to the detriment of others) fascinate me.
While waiting to catch SEPTA regional rail back home I used to hang out at the Gallery. The thing that stuck the most in my head was just how outdated and dark it seemed. A big part of this I’m sure is the fact that it is, as the blog mentioned, literally downtown. As a teenager (and later, as a broke college student) I definitely had use for discount stores, so the selection of retail didn’t bother me. But it was just something about the lights, the mirrored ceilings, etc. that made everything seem… I don’t know… sketchier? Even in the food court… I could tell myself that the Teryaki Boy sushi there was the exact same as the Teryaki Boy in the Shops at Liberty Place (where I ended up more often despite the fact I couldn’t afford much there!), but it all just felt cheaper.
To me, they’re not going going to attract an anchor to replace Strawbridge’s (RIP) until they address the issue of aesthetics.
Although, last time I was around the Gallery much of the surrounding area still felt cheap as well. I’ll be interested when I go back this weekend to see if it’s changed, and if so, I wonder what that means for the future of the Gallery.
on October 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
And mallguy… step a few more blocks away from the boardwalk in AC (even past the new shopping district), THEN tell me that anything has changed in the city…
on October 25th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Spot on. The potential of this site is RIDICULOUS. How many malls can boast the following?
Connection to a convention center?
Connection to a hotel?
Connection to a farmers’ market?
Connection to a train station?!?!
Proximity to a Greyhound terminal?
Proximity to a huge historical tourist attraction, ie. Independence Hall?
Proximity to national monuments like Pat’s and Gino’s?
I mean, come on! If this isn’t a gem of a site going to waste I don’t know what is. It’s no wonder Foxwoods Resort Casino wants to move their new casino project from the waterfront to here. I have to say, however, that I think a casino would almost be a waste of these resources. A casino by Foxwoods is most likely going to succeed almost wherever it is (they didn’t build the biggest casino in the world by accident). I feel like another venue, preferably retail, would benefit better from the site. Even if it is just another mall that better interacts with its surroundings.