Whitehall Mall; Whitehall, Pennsylvania
Hey kids–I’ve been really busy lately (in fact, it seems we both have), hence the dearth of new posts. But it’s not that I haven’t updated anything–in fact, we made some edits to a post from nearly a year back the other day thanks to some new vintage photos of the Leh’s Department store in Whitehall, Pennsylvania (outside of Allentown) at the Whitehall Mall. Since it’s unlikely any of you would’ve coincidentally stumbled across it (and it was posted before many people really even read Labelscar…) I figured I’d put it back out front, for all to see. And thanks again to Michael Lisicky for the great additions!
Original post as of June, 2006: Nowadays, whenever we go to look at a group of new malls, it seems that at least one or two in each metropolitan area is already gone or has been changed substantially. On a trip down to the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania in November of 2005, I found one of these weird FrankenMalls: Whitehall Mall in Whitehall.
Located just north of the large and successful Lehigh Valley Mall, which is the main mall serving the greater Allentown and Bethlehem area, the Whitehall Mall is located in a high traffic location. That’s probably why its owners felt it should be big boxed (PDF) (and from my research, its redevelopment was done quite awhile ago: 1998, to be exact), though this is one of the more bizarre big box efforts that I’ve seen at a mall. A large section of the Whitehall Mall’s interior has been preserved and was not renovated, and the part that was turned outward doesn’t include many large box stores.
Currently, the Whitehall Mall houses a Sears (which stands in its original location, but no longer has mall access), Weis, Bed Bath and Beyond (both in the strip center portion of the mall) and Kohl’s (which resides at the end of one long interior corridor. Confused? Don’t feel bad; I would be too. Here’s a current mall directory to clue you in:
Strangely, it appears to me that the original Sears entrance would’ve been the one that currently faces towards the plaza, but I did find an abandoned exit from inside the Sears that I assumed went towards the mall. I’m not sure which is true, though it could be either or both depending on the center’s old configuration. The most notable find here was obviously the old enclosed portion, which does not appear to have been renovated since the 1960s or early 1970s. There was a large atrium near the entrance and former “Plaza” movie theatres, adjacent to an anchor that is currently mostly occupied by a Weis Markets but which was originally a Leh’s Department store (and a Zollinger Department store before that). There’s also an area about halfway up the hallway where there was a set of stairs leading up to the mall offices. They were set in front of a very groovy and retro stone wall.
In all, this is hardly an inventive (or particularly successful commercially, it seemed) way to hack up an old enclosed mall, but it did leave a few cool vestiges for us vintage mall fans.
UPDATE 5/2/2007 11:52 PM: Michael Lisicky, a constant source of excellent vintage photos for Labelscar, sent over some shots of the former Leh’s anchor at Whitehall, as well as an advertisement/logo for Zollinger dating to the early 1970s. The Leh’s shots all date to May 1994.
Vintage Zollinger-Harned Logo, from the early 1970s:
Michael Lisicky’s 1994 photos of Whitehall Mall:
2005 photos:
More Leh’s, photos. From left to right, they are Quakertown, 1994, and Downtown Allentown, 1991:
Max
August 13th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Thank you so much for mentioning the Whitehall Mall, as I used to live near it (as well as near the Lehigh Valley Mall) during the first four years of my life.
Again, because I was so young when I moved out of the area, I don’t remember much about either mall from my first-hand experience. Rather, I know a lot about these malls from the things that I have read.
I last visited the Whitehall Mall in 1997, and of course, it was still enclosed at that point. If I remember correctly, the Sears there had only one level (but it was still a nice store). The mall also had a Woolworth’s, since its sign was still up despite the fact that the entire chain had just recently closed. I am not sure as to whether the Kohl’s was also there in 1997.
I am almost certain that Sears, Woolworth, and Weis Supermarket were at the Whitehall Mall from the beginning. However, Kohl’s was definately not there from the start. Any information regarding what used to occupy the Kohl’s space would be greatly appreciated.
Regarding the Lehigh Valley Mall, the anchors that were there when I lived in the area were Bamberger’s, JC Penney, and John Wanamaker. These were also the mall’s original anchors. In 1986, Bamberger’s became Macy’s. The John Wanamaker store has changed hands several times: it became Hecht’s in 1995, Strawbridge’s in 1996, and is about to become Boscov’s later this year. Also, I believe the Lehigh Valley Mall openend circa 1976 or 1977. However, I have no idea when the Whitehall Mall opened.
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john eppel Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
@Max, do you recall the name of the pizza place in the whitehall mall
thanks john
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funky-rat
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:29 am
I miss the way the Whitehall Mall used to be. It was a nice small mall. I used to frequent it and the Lehigh Valley Mall. My husband grew up not too far from there. I had visited them both in 1994, and then various things kept us out of the area until around 1999-ish (give or take).
The Whitehall Mall had several anchors/larger stores. Sears, Woolworth, Leh’s (a local chain), and Clover (a division of Strawbridge and Clothier – a more K-Mart like store). Only Sears survives out of those stores. I believe Weis was there at that time. I don’t remember a whole lot of the stores in the mall. I do remember there being a Sixteen Plus, Catherines (which has moved out of the mall to a strip center up the street), Payless (still there), and a store that sold Capezio dance shoes (may have been a Capezio store).
When we went back, I was saddened to see that they hacked the nice little mall up. And don’t get me started on what they did to the Lehigh Mall in the name of progress…..
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funky-rat
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:37 am
**Corrections (I need to proofread better). It should say I LAST visited in 1994, and what they did to the Lehigh VALLEY Mall.
Sorry.
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John
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:55 am
This mall was the site of the first suburban location for Zollinger-Harned, a local department store whose Hamilton Street location in Center City Allentown is now the Sovereign Building. When Zollinger’s went out-of-business in the late 70s, H. Leh & Company took over the Whitehall Mall location for its expansion efforts into the suburban landscape of the Lehigh Valley. Leh’s, too, bit the dust in the mid 90s…the oldest surviving family-owned department store chain in the country.
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JB
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Kohl’s opened where Clover used to be. And Leh’s used to be next door to Weis Supermarket. There used to be a Woolworth there with a lunch counter that opened into the mall.
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Melba
April 24th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Wow…the Whitehall Mall…
I would say the mall opened around 1967 or 68 as I remember shopping there as a little girl. It was the first indoor mall that I can recall in the area. In addition to the Sears, Zollingers, and Woolworth’s, the mall had a Spencers Gifts. an Ormonds and Junior Colony (junior clothing). I remember a round open air stage in the mall closer to the Sears end and a sunk in seating area down closer to Zollingers/Leh’s. There was a cafeteria style restaurant attached to the mall called Percy Brown’s but it had no access from the inside of the mall. The Plaza theater was at the back end of the mall. I also remember for the longest time in the northern parking lot there was a big slide…the old multi lane slide that you ride down in a burlap sack. I can’t recalll why it was there but it was great when I was a kid. Clover was added later and was not an original part of the mall.
Bamberger’s at the Lehigh Valley Mall opened in summer 1976, with the rest of the mall following in fall. LVM was pretty much the demise of WHM albeit a slow demise.
Thanks for the memories!
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john eppel Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@Melba, do you recall the name of the pizza place in the whitehall mall.
thanks john
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Scott
May 4th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
What a weird mall now. Just a small enclosed portion. I wonder how they expect something that small to succeed. It just looks like their didn’t think it through.
Scott
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Chris Whittaker
May 4th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
This looks like something out of Northern Lights Mall in suburban Syracuse or Northwood Mall in Tallahassee. with the small interior. At least it still is a mall of sorts, and hasn’t been converted into office space for the State of Florida like Northwood has.
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dan-onymous
May 4th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I remember going to this mall a lot as a kid (late 80’s/early 90’s…as a matter of fact, I remember seeing Mrs. Doubtfire at the theatre) and definitely thinking that Leh’s seemed to have an aura of high-end glamor compared to other department stores in the Lehigh Valley, but also that it was favored by an older clientele (I don’t think I ever went into any Leh’s unless it was with my grandparents!). As you can see by the new photo, the fountain area in front of the Leh’s was a major senior citizen hot spot. Around this time, the Woolworth’s had a little pizza/snack stand next to it as well as a full-service sit-down restaurant (I don’t believe either was accessible through the store, only through the mall corridor). Also at the mall were a Boardwalk Fries (across from the theatre near the staircase), Arby’s (to the left of the theatre) and a candle store called Candleman (near Sears). Strangely, I don’t really remember this mall being especially poorly-tenanted before it got big-boxed.
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Eric
May 4th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Thanks for the updates on some of the old posts! I’ve been checking this site almost everyday since December and new content makes my day.
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Matt from WI
May 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
This reminds me of how Northland Mall in Appleton WI is set up now, though just not as haphazardly.
It still has a small slice of its old enclosed portion left between its anchors ShopKo, and Kohl’s. The rest of the mall off the east side of Kohls’ building is a outdoor strip of shops.
The enclosed mall portion was once much bigger and had some 30-odd storefronts, until Kohl’s doubled the size of their store by 60,000 SF. with two expansions in 1994 (by 20,000 SF) and 2000 (another 40,000 sq ft) respectively. The original 1983 store was only 58,000 SF or so, and the enclosed portion actually had a center court and another long wing going to a front ‘main’ entrance.
I think this calls for another Wisconsin mall write up soon. I’ll get right to it after I return home from Chicagoland. I wished I got pics when I went to Northland for the first time in 1992, but I was young and dumb back then. I did get pics from 1996 and again in 2001. I’m heading up that way tomorrow, so I should probably try (but can’t guarantee it) to get updated pics.
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Allan
May 5th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Interesting, this mall reminds me of when you posted about North Park Mall in Villa Park, IL(except that the owners of Whitehall did a very BIZARRE action by tearing down probably most of the interior portion of this mall!). Since I’m still slightly confused(unfortunately) about this mall, though I sorta understand the mall’s layout a little, what anchors of this mall can still be accessed via the interior mall portion? Is it only the Kohl’s, and the Bed, Bath, and Beyond that are accessible from the remaining interior mall area? (or is the Weis Supermarket still acccessible from the interior, too?)
I find it quite weird that they tore down the hallway toward Sears, but I guess the owners of Whitehall were having trouble keeping occupancy rates high enough for their standards or something….). Regardless of this reason, I don’t think tearing down the hallway toward Sears was the best idea for this mall. It certainly must not encourage many Sears shoppers to shop the rest of the stores in the remaining enclosed portion of this mall…..
And is the Boscov’s opening in the space that appears to be above the Weis supermarket in the map pic of the mall(and that looks to be cut off from the pic)? My questions aside about this mall, the old interior decor of this mall is quite interesting(especially the stairway by the rock wall, that I’m guessing is still in the mall today).
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Allan
May 5th, 2007 at 12:22 am
And as for what Matt was posting, was Northland Mall a mall that used to co-exist with the more successful(sorry if I get the name wrong.) Fox River Mall, or whatever the name of the really successful mall that dominates the Appleton area? Or was it one that opened before Fox River did? I never had heard of Northland, till your post(despite that I’ve heard of some old malls that are long gone, and just love reading about bygone malls….).
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ET Reply:
July 6th, 2009 at 5:14 am
@Allan,
The Northland Mall isn’t much of a mall by modern standards, like the Fox River Mall. It does a few stores in an inside area, but it’s pretty much just a glorified strip-mall. Stores include Shopko, Kohl’s, Exclusive Music Company (record store,) a dollar store (though I think this one may have closed,) Pages & Pipes (book and specialty tobacco store, sister store to the one downtown;) I actually worked here a while back, Radioshack, Hungry Howies, and a DMV branch, and a China Buffet. There’s a McDonald’s (unattached,) in the lot. There might also be a Pet Supplies Plus or something similar, I can’t remember exactly. Just down from it, not attached but in the same lot, is a Festival Foods. The stores inside… there’s a game store with a bunch of board-games and the like, some kind of nature or gift/decorative merchandise store, a store solely dedicated to model train stuff (and maybe some model kits as well,) and a few others. The mall is located at OO (Northland Ave.,) and Richmond St. Hope this helps.
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Bobby
May 5th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
To Chris Whittaker : Got any more information on Northwood Mall? I’m curious.
To Dan-onymous: Believe it or not, Arby’s was still there until about a year ago.
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Matt from WI
May 5th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
To Allan:
Keep out an eye on the blog. I won’t be able to this week, but my next write up / submission will be about Northland Mall. It would be rather detailed to explain in a response to this posting….it deserves its own entry on the blog.
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Chris Whittaker
May 5th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Not too much, since by the time I got here, it had become state offices with a couple of businesses left over that services the state workers, kind of like the Empire State Plaza without the location or towers. You can find a description of this mall on Storetrax.
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bobby
May 5th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
http://www.simon.com/mall/LeasingSheet/whitehall%20mall1050.pdf has updated info. Apparently Weis took part of hte old theater too.
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dan-onymous
May 5th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Apparently the Weis closed late last year: http://www.weisproject.com/past_detail.php?num=25
Bobby: That’s surprising that the Arby’s managed to hold on so long…I visited this mall about 2 months ago and in its place was some independent restaurant called Lucky 3’s, or something like that, though all the furnishings remained the same.
Allan: I doubt a Boscov’s would now be joining this mall, as they just opened a new location across the street at Lehigh Valley Mall in the former Strawbridges space.
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Allan
May 5th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Oh ok, I see what you’re saying about Boscov’s. I must’ve gotten completely confused, when I was reading this info(and the later comments) about Whitehall Mall.
I had no idea either that in actuality, both these malls were right next to each other…..
And Matt from WI, that’s ok if there is too much info to explain Northland Mall’s layout in a comment here, I look foward to reading your full post on that mall whenever you get around to posting it!
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Steven Swain
May 6th, 2007 at 12:58 am
The pictures of Leh’s really make this post. I remember stopping for breakfast in Allentown in ‘92 or ‘93, seeing a newspaper ad for Leh’s and wondering about what their stores were like. Now i know, and I’m impressed. Sure they were a little dated, but you can tell it was a nice store.
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Matt
May 7th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I recognize the picture of the Leh’s store from Quakertown. After Leh’s, it became a branch of Nestor’s Sporting Goods (unless there was something else there in between that) who still have a location in Whitehall. The Quakertown store closed earlier this year, so the space is empty once again.
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80's Kid
September 17th, 2007 at 2:18 am
I was a regular here all through the 80’s and early 90’s. I prime mall hangout age from 1987 to 1991. I remember it all like it was yesterday. The Lehigh Valley Mall was much bigger and better but we had some fun times in the Whitehall mall. It was definitly slower and thought of as the “old people” mall. The ruined the LV Mall with that stupid renovation the took away the spiral staircase. Saw many movies at the Plaza movie theater like E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark when I was little. Grandmother shopped at Leh’s. That whole area has changed so much it makes me sad. Who remembers Hess’s North and Kiddie City? This mall is totally destroyed now. The new Millenium has not been kind to malls. Both malls had a Space Port arcade. They ruled back then. I could go on forever. Where can I find more vintage photos of these malls?
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Charlie
November 7th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
80’s kid,
I can remember the Space Port along with Kiddie City and Hess’s North. I can even remember the times before Space Port. They had various mechancial arcade games placed throughout the mall. Most of them resided down my Leh’s in the sunken areas. This was the mid to early 70s. In the 80’s there was a music store that would sell new releases on cassette for around $6.
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Joe
December 21st, 2007 at 11:45 pm
My Whitehall Mall memories as a child:
1. Santa arriving by helicopter. Colored ping pong balls dropped from the heilcopter to be traded for Mall gifts.
2. Weis Market. My first place of employment during high school. Good times.
3. Spencer Gifts. Great place to check out the latest rock posters that glowed under a black light.
4. Woolsworth. Ah yes, the record dept. I spent hours searching thru the latest albums and 45’s.
5. The Paperback Den. A great little bookstore.
6. The Plaza Movie Theatre. $1.25 matinees. Christmas Parties.
7. The water fountains, talking parrots, and annual hula dancer shows on the center stage.
8. Rea & Derick Drug Store. The snack bar made the best cherry coke floats around.
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Ben
January 13th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
One thing that I always noticed about the Whitehall Mall is the small second floor located near the entrance with what appears to be a bank of offices. These offices are obviously no longer in use, and they look like they must have been designed sometime in the seventies (and have not been updated since then). I’ve always wondered if these offices were for rent at one point or if they served the stores located in the mall or the mall itself…I’m sure most malls contain some office facilities, but I’ve never seen any that seemed so deliberately publicly accessible.
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joe
January 21st, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I grew up in the Allentown area and can tell you some info. about the Whitehall Mall. The Whitehall Mall was one of the first enclosed shopping malls in the country when it opened in the mid 60’s. The original anchor tenants included Sears, Zollinger’s Department Store, Weis Markets, and Woolworth’s. Weis Markets was unique in the sense that the store could be entered through the mall or through an outside entrance. It was very unique for a mall to have a grocery store located within it. There was the enclosed mall and there was also the outside mall stores that could only be reached outside the mall from the parking lot. The outside stores included- Mall Barber later CJ Barbers, PA State Liquor Store, Merchant’s Bank later First Union Bank, Penn Jersey Auto Store, Catherine’s, Percey Brown’s Restaurant later Seafood Shanty now Old Country Buffet, Outlooks for Hair, a beer distributor, and Radio Shack. I
nside the mall such stores included-
Rea and Derrick Drugs later CVS, Nomad Travel, The Shoe Man, Parade of Shoes, Payless Shoes, Orange Julius, Nut Hut, Little Red Wagon snack bar, Woolworth’s Restaurant, Kay Jewelers, Singer Sewing Machine store, Plaza Theater, AfterThoughts, Spencer Gifts, and many more I cannot think of. In the 80’s the mall expanded and added a new wing and anchor store. The anchor store was Clover Department Store which was the budget minded division of Strawbridge and Clothier (it was much like a fancy K-mart). Clover closed and Kohl’s came into the space in the late 90’s. The newer section of the mall contained Spaceport, Arby’s, an music store, Boardwalk Fries, and a few more stores.
The Whitehall Mall had mall offices upstairs on a second floor as well as community rooms that were for the public and restrooms. I remember the mall for the two fountains near the Leh’s entrance with its colored lights, the sunken seat areas that were later filled in when the mall was renovated, car displays inside the mall by area car dealers (yes they would actually drive cars into the mall), Woolworth’s toy area (an enclosed toy area that was built every Christmas in the mall across from Woolworth’s, With the rise in popularity of strip malls again in the 90’s the owners of the mall decided to abandon the “inside mall” concept decided to make the mall a strip mall. The original strip mall stores (Mall Barber, Liquor Store, Beer Distributor, etc). were town down. The area that was orginally the mall stores and Sears mall wing was turned into what is now occupied by Bed Bath and Beyond, Kay Jewelers, Haband, etc. – the mall was now a strip mall. If you are in the Bed Bath and Beyond store today or any of the other stores you will be actually in what was once the Sears mall wing, Woolworth’s etc. The stores near the Sears auto center which include Apple, Border’s, etc. were built from new in the 90’s when the mall was turned into a strip mall to further enhance the strip mall idea.
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joe
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:33 am
The Whitehall Mall was built in 1967.
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joe
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Does anyone have any other pictures of this mall to share?
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Dave
February 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I grew up in the Lehigh Valley and watched the Whitehall Mall being built – my family used to eat at the Fireside Restaurant across MacArthur Road from the building site. We were all amazed at the size of the project – we had never even heard of a mall at that point.
My family shopped at Sears – the old one on 7th Street in Allentown before the mall opened. Later in life my first credit card was a Sears store card that I applied for at the Whitehall Mall store.
Once the Lehigh Valley Mall opened I spent more time there in my late teens, hanging out and shopping. But I do remember good times at the Plaza Theater – it was where I first saw JAWS.
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Chris
March 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
When I was a little kid I rember going to the Whitehall Mall quite frequently, my Mom was a big fan of the department store Clover , (where Kohl’s now operates), I use to shop with my Nan at the Leh’s Department sotre, as well as back then years before Carmike even existed I use to watch many movies at the Plaza. I also rember being at various stores inside the mall and Sears, (which still exists and is about the same today). Here is some informat ion about this mall that I can give to you. First of all the Weis Markets never moved locations, when the mall was boxed around the late 90’s, Weis Markets has kept is full original location and knocked down the wall to the left of the store , went in to the right half of the former Leh’s and than put up a wall to the left where the store got extended and the whole store got renovated (like how they moved the produce section from the right to the left of the store) followed by ripping out the hallway and the stores to the left front of Weis. Then as I recall The Plaza (where it’s main entrance is in the preserved wing of the mall) was still open a few years after the mall was boxed until The Carmike opend a few minutes east of the mall and ran both the Plaza at The Whitehall Mall and The AMC outside the Lehigh Valley Mall parking lot out of business. So for over five years and I think it was even over five years the Plaza theatre and the left side remain of Leh’s sat empty, and it even seemed impossible to put a store on the left side of Leh’s , due to the fact that how they extended Weis Markets there was no place to put an entrance so it seemed like it would be just an empty permanent space until Gold’s Gym came in like around I think 2005 and has taken the whole former Plaza and what was ever left of Leh’s and put a nice gym which is only a few years old and operates wonderful ( I know poeple who attend that gym) the only thing was I guess above the left side of Weis Markets the original second floor of Leh’s still exists but they ripped out the second floor of leh’s that was above the left half of the store where the gym resides , but still has the metal cealing frames where you can even see a big open square in the middle of the gym where the escelators use to run up and down. Also the Weis Markets went out of business like over a year ago (even though it had outside access) and I think the main reason is that most people like me always went to the Weis up on MacArthur Road which was actually built and opend up right after the Whitehall Mall location has been renovated and both Weis have been operating at the same time for like over five years. Now I do know that the section of the mall preserved right after you pass the former Plaze to Kohls has been an addition like in the 70’s (where by the way if you walk into the mall from Kohl’s they still have the cool Pet Shop with alot of cats and dogs), but anyway from the origninal hallway that goes from Weis Markets/Leh’s up to Sears they kept everything from the right side of the hallway but demolishes the left side of the hallway and the hallway it self, but the whole right side is still there as well as Sears. However along with Leh’s and all the stores that have shut down on the left side of the hallway alot of the stores on the right side of the hallway closed down which gave room for Bed Bath & Beyond. Some of the stores that have been on the right side of the hall way are still in its present spot though like Payless, Kay Jewelers, and Catherine’s Cloths for women , and Hallmark have remained in the same spot a few years after renovations. I have actually heard that the Payless hasen’t even changed the drop cealings after the renovations and that after everything that happend it still has the same cealing and lights. After Bed,Bath,&Beyond decided to expand there store somemore they made a deal with Hallmark where Hallmark can take over the former Zany Brany store (which opend after the mall renovated and was a CVS before the mall was boxed) and that Bed,Bath,&Beyond takes over the left side of the store which is the Harmones drugstore section of the store (which was added to many of the Bed,Bath,&Beyond stores) and Hallmark has lost it’s original location. Also, I rember being at Joe’s ice Creamery (which opend up after the mall was boxed , closed a few years later, and was to the left of the original Hallmark ) and I remember that right when you enter from the door that for the first few steps in there was still a few tiles from the mall hallway that was knocked out which was cool, but I think when LA Weight loss center has taken that store over they have taken out the old tile floor and what ever the creamery has had and put in a new carpet covering the whole shop shop that is the end of that. Also, i think this happend sometime around the boxing renovations that the Sea Food Restaurant has closed and that the former Home Town Buffet that was located on MacArthur Road moved into that spot under the name Old Country Buffet (Which is a related buffet in the same company), and is still doing good business today. My Mom has also told me that on the second floor of Leh’s there use to be a small Yogart/Salad Bar restaurnt called ,”The Broccile Garden”, which I think shut down before I was born. Arby’s remaind at the mall years after the mall has been boxed due to the fact that in addition to the entrance in the presevered hallway that was the only Arby’s with an outside entrance in the Whitehall area, and I think when they put the nice new big outside Arby’s restaurant on Shadt Ave that is what hurt the Whitehall Mall Arby’s to go out of business. Also right after renovations on the West side of the parking lot they built a small shopping center from scratch that has a Famous Foot Wear and a Border’s and Michael’s and the store to the right of it was added on to the strip center when the boxing was completed to and converted mostly into a strip center. But keep in mind that even though things look differently now most of the mall like throught the strip is still the original part of the mall.
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Johnese
March 30th, 2008 at 3:49 am
The mall’s decor in the 60s and 70s was more ornate and colorful than in later years. The cieling was adorned with circular panels done in various colors. The tile in the floor had circular patterns that mimicked the cieling. Outside of Zollingers (which later became Lehs), there were four very large lighting fixtures that hung from the cieling. The lighting fixtures were black and white striped cylinders and were futuristic in a 1960s sense. There was a very, very large bird cage in the center of the mall that included large tropical birds. The bird cage disappeared in the early 1970s. The rest of the trippy decor was removed in the mid to late 1970s.
Some defunct Stores:
Spinning Wheel Cards
Orange Julius
Book Barn
Percy Browns (restaurant)
The Hub (mens clothes)
Spencers
Nut Hut?
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Rebecca
April 27th, 2008 at 1:49 am
I don’t think Spencers went defunct. Last time I checked it was still in the Lehigh Valley Mall. Now how that mall is changing and a lot of those stores are being forced to close, who knows if it is there or not.
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Lenny
May 10th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Chris made mention of the 2 weis stores, the one in the mall and another up the road. At one time, soon before the renovation, Weis’ original plan was to replace the mall store with the one up the road. When the renovation was announced, they were unsure on whether to rebuild or replace the mall store. They chose both, which explains why both stores [re]opened only a year apart.
Spencers was in both malls simutaneously while WM was an indoor mall. Although the one at WM was larger than the one at the LV mall, the one at the LV mall had more stuff.
Who here remembers the birds that always flew around Woolworth’s?
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Max
June 8th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I would really appreciate it if Labelscar could one day profile the Lehigh Valley Mall. I visited that mall yesterday, and I had a great time.
The Lehigh Valley Mall has a beautiful, whitewashed look to it. As most already know, the outdoor lifestyle portion is now open, and it is a wonderful addition to the mall. The mall’s three anchors–especially Boscov’s–are also tremendous highlights.
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Francis
July 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I do not rember Weis having an outside entrance until the mall was torn apart. I also do not recall an outside strip mall with a beer store and stuff, was that connected behind the stores across from what is now Bed Bath and Beyond? All I have to say is that the only store that remains in the hallway The PetShop should move to the Lehigh Valley Mall. It is a really nice store and I do not know hos it is surviving at the Whitehall Mall. They have one at the Palmer Park Mall that is doing well. Now that Lehigh Valley Mall has the outside addition it would be the perfect spot. I should contact the owner and suggest them to move it will cost them more rent however with the bigger business it would pay off in the end in a much cooler mall.
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KC
August 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Wow. This brings back memories. My very first job when I was in high school was at the Pet Shop. I’m not sure if it’s the same store that apparently still survives in the interior, but when I worked there it was in the outside strip mall part. That outside part did indeed contain a liquor store, some kind of tobacco seller, a teachers’ supply store (The Teacher’s Pet, I think?) that my mom used to frequent, and a Merchant’s Bank (where I cashed my very first paycheck). The strip mall part started at the Weis entrance, then ran west towards the Sears, and ended at what eventually became the Buffet place.
I used to grab lunch at the Orange Julius, which was a free standing kiosk right at the junction of the two wings, across from Leh’s.
I remember when they added the Clover/Kohl’s addition in the 80’s – that wing used to stop at the Plaza. And there was some other sort of discound shoe place there – Fayva? – before Payless. And the “nothing over 99 cents” store used to be a “nothing over 9.99″ clothing store. I think I furnished my middle school wardrobe there.
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Jane M
October 4th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
This site brought back a lot of great memories. I hung out at the Whitehall Mall all through my high school years. My first job was at Percy Brown’s in 1974.
Thanks for the memories!!!
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KC
November 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am
I do remember the birds that always flew around Woolworths!
Anyone else recall the Little Red Wagon that sold the popcorn? It always smelled so good when they’d pop up a fresh batch.
And I finally remembered the name of the “original” pet store located on the exterior – it was “The Pet Set”
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John
November 16th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Zollinger’s Restaurant…
In the photo of Leh’s at the top of the page, you’ll notice an area above the Leh’s sign that is boarded up and painted white. This used to be a restaurant back when the store first opened as a Zollingers. The restaurant was on the second floor of the store and overlooked both the mall and the first floor of the store. In its early years, I remember the restaurant having a lobster tank. It may have been a seafood restaurant. I don’t remember the name.
Zollingers changed to a Leh’s and at some point, the restaurant was closed and boarded up.
Earthquake…
When the movie “Earthquake” played at the Whitehall Mall’s Plaza Theater in 1974, it used an effect called “Sensurround” that would cause the theater to vibrate by using large sub-woofers. The theater was right next to Zollingers (Leh’s). Reportedly, the vibrations from Sensurround could be felt in the shoe department and caused shoes to fall from shelves along the wall.
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Cathy Rogers
December 26th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Does anyone remember the “shrimp salad” sold in the restaurant on the second floor of Zollinger’s? I am trying to find the recipe if there is one floating around out there. It was very good and yes, these pictures are fantastic. We used to “hang out” in the mall back in 1970.
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Bob Ross
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
I remember buying lots of records (LPs and singles) at “Whitehall Mall Records” that was located across from the Lehs at the “pit” area. A lot of what people heard on WSAN radio came from there. My show was one of these. Their towers are still in the parking lot, but their format changed a bunch of times.
Bob Ross
WSAN and now, WMUH 91.7
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Debra Zemko Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am
@Bob Ross,
Hi Bob,
I read some of the posts here and it seems like there are a lot of folks who know Lehigh Valley history. Could you please tell me the name of the little boy who walked across the ice over the Lehigh River, I think within view of the Northampton Bridge, and fell in. It was in the early 1960s. I know that also a diver lost his life in this rescue. If you can direct me to another website with information, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Debra Zemko
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Darksong17
June 1st, 2009 at 12:49 am
The pet shop there is terrible. Disgusting. I didn’t dare purchase anything from the store, just being in there made me feel ill. Most of the animal’s enclosures were dirty and inadequate (I saw three ferrets shoved in an aquarium of all things), not to mention the puppy mill puppies they sell in the store. If you hate puppy mills and animal neglect/abuse, steer clear of this store. Do not give them your money, you’re only supporting their poor practices and the puppy mills they get their puppies from.
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