As shopping centers close nationwide, Millcreek Mall is going strong at 50-year mark

Jim Martin

Erie Times-News

 

Like many who lived in the Pittsburgh area in the late 1970s, Joe Bell remembers the opening of the Century III Mall in West Mifflin as an event.

“It was a very big deal,” he said of the mall, which once ranked as the nation’s third-largest. “It was a huge mall property. We were wowed just by walking through the place.”

The good times didn’t last. By the late 1990s, Century III faced growing competition and the loss of anchor tenants.

Today, what had been a gleaming showplace is being demolished.

In many ways, the demise of the Century III Mall reflects the declining fortunes of enclosed malls. According to a May report from Capitol One, the number of malls declined an average of 16.7% per year between 2017 and 2022.

The report predicts up to 87% of large shopping malls could close over the coming 10 years.

We need not look far for evidence of that decline. Kmart, the final piece of the Meadville Mall, closed in 2017.

A few weeks ago, demolition began at the Shenango Valley Mall in Mercer County. Owners have plans for a $100 million mixed-used development on the site.

The Millcreek Mall both disrupted and expanded Erie’s retail sector

Fifty years ago, the Millcreek Mall disrupted the status quo in Erie, fueling a retail exodus to the suburbs that was already well underway.

In a 1974 interview, Bernie Gorniak, a spokesman for downtown merchants, saw trouble ahead.

“Somebody is going to get hurt,” he said.

Carlisle’s manager Thomas Pooton wasn’t sure what to expect.

“This is the toughest damned problem we’ve ever handled — trying to figure out what the mall is going to do to Erie,” he said.

Youngstown-based mall developer William Cafaro predicted that the mall would do more than divide the local retail pie into different portions.

He saw that pie getting bigger.

“We’re going to be bringing in great numbers of people who are going to different markets at the present time,” Cafaro said at the time.

 

Adapting has been the story of the mall in Erie’s backyard

Bell, who has worked for 17 years as spokesman for the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., owner of the Millcreek Mall, said change has been a constant.

The 2016 loss of Sears, an original anchor tenant, felt for a time like a moment of reckoning. Finding a tenant to fill the 145,000-square-foot space seemed like a tall order.

But it happened and it happened quickly. Less than a year later, Reading-based Boscov’s opened in the former Sears space, now enlarged by 26,000 square feet.

Landing Boscov’s was a highwater mark, but it wasn’t the only time the mall has survived a challenge.

For the mall, whose original anchor tenants included Sears, JC Penney, The Boston Store, Carlisle’s, Halle’s, Kaufmann’s and a Loblaw’s grocery store, the call to adapt has been constant.

It’s why Brian McGrath, who served 24 years as a supervisor in Millcreek Township, doesn’t worry much about the mall’s future.

“The Cafaros have done a very good job of limiting their vacancies. That’s always been the case,” he said. “The names of the stores may change, but they typically get someone to fill a spot if a retailer leaves.”

The names have changed over the years. Of the original six anchors, only JC Penney remains.

The evolution of what was Halle’s, a Cleveland-based department store, reflects the changing face of the mall.

Halle’s, which closed in 1982, was replaced by Dahlkemper’s Catalog Showroom. The space was later home to Burlington Coat Factory, which moved in 2014.

Current occupants of that space, now divided into spaces for six tenants, include Primanti Brothers, Mad Mex, Guitar Center and Round One Entertainment.

Today, the mall complex, which typically ranks among the nation’s 20 largest malls, includes 2.2 million square feet of retail stores, dozens of restaurants and four hotels.

 

Tax-free shopping on clothes attracts shoppers

In a community that boasts a popular amusement park, one of the country’s top indoor water parks and Pennsylvania’s busiest state park, shopping gives visitors one more thing to do, said John Oliver, CEO of VisitErie, Erie County’s tourism promotion agency.

“It’s also a driver of people coming in,” he said. “We know that tax-free clothes and shoes certainly is an attraction for people in New York, Ohio and other states.”

Canadian tourists — some of whom travel here on two-day and three-day bus tours — come in smaller numbers since the imposition of certain travel restrictions. But they still come, Oliver said.

 

What’s the secret to success in a changing world?

An unusual accolade for the local mall came in March of 2023 when an online casino ranked it as the best mall in America to seek shelter in a zombie apocalypse.

It was apparently a compliment.

But there is other evidence that speaks to its success.

In 2023, Cafaro reported that the mall logged 12.1 million visitors in 12 months, enough to rank it in the 99th percentile among U.S. shopping centers.

While that total fell to 10.7 million in 2024, Bell described mall traffic as “remarkably consistent for the last few years.”

The challenges facing brick-and-mortar shopping are as well known as the rise of online shopping and what seems like a growing preference for strip plazas.

“The most important element is making sure you are providing the type of businesses a community wants,” Bell said. “Our leasing agents are looking for the right mixture of businesses that are really relevant to the community.”

The definition of relevant has changed since 1975.

Back then, Bell said, malls were built on the foundation of “three or four anchors, seven or so shoes stores and a couple of record stores.”

Shopping remains central to the mission of the mall, which filled a vacant anchor space last year with a new $5.35 million Dicks Sporting Goods, complete with an outdoor athletic field.

“It also means a place for great food and entertainment. People are looking for options to grab drinks, grab dinner or have lunch,” Bell said.

For all that has changed, the Millcreek Mall ranks as a success at a time when the internet is home to a growing list of empty, darkened malls.

Cafaro, owner of 12 enclosed malls and about 40 other properties, has been more successful than most, Bell said.

“I have to say Millcreek is one of the gems,” he said. “It really has done very well for the mall and for other businesses that call it home. We want to make sure we provide something of value to the community.”

Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.