Exton Square Mall facts for kids
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| Location | Exton, Pennsylvania, United States |
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| Coordinates | 40°01′53″N 75°37′25″W / 40.0314°N 75.6236°W |
| Address | 260 Exton Square Parkway |
| Opening date | March 1973 |
| Developer | The Rouse Company |
| Management | Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust |
| Owner | Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust |
| No. of stores and services | 50+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 (3 open, 1 vacant, 1 subleased) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,086,859 sq ft (100,973 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1-2 |
| Parking | Parking lot, parking garage |
| Public transit access |   SEPTA bus: 92, 204 at the Exton Transportation Center Krapf Transit Route "A" at the Exton Transportation Center TMACC Evening Link at the Exton Transportation Center |
The Exton Square Mall is a large shopping mall in Exton, Pennsylvania. It is located in West Whiteland Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The mall has a parking garage and a food court.
You can find the mall where U.S. Route 30 Business and Pennsylvania Route 100 meet. This spot is often called "the crossroads of Chester County." The main stores, called "anchor stores," are Macy's and Boscov's. There is also a fun Round One Entertainment arcade and bowling center. Plus, you'll find many smaller shops and a food court with different places to eat.
The Exton Square Mall is shaped like a square. The southern part of the mall has two floors, while the northern part has one floor. Macy's is in the middle of the mall. The other main stores and the food court are located in the corners. The mall is owned by a company called Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT).
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Where is Exton Square Mall?
The Exton Square Mall is in the community of Exton, Pennsylvania. It sits at the northeast corner where US 30 Business and PA 100 cross paths. This intersection is known as "the crossroads of Chester County."
The mall is also close to major highways like the US 30 bypass, the US 202 expressway, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Getting to the Mall by Public Transport
You can get to the mall using public transportation. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority buses, routes 92 and 204, stop at the mall's transportation center. These buses connect to nearby towns like West Chester and King of Prussia.
Other bus services also stop at the mall. Krapf Transit Route "A" goes to West Chester and Coatesville. The TMACC Evening Link bus also serves Coatesville. The mall is also near the Exton train station. This station is served by SEPTA Regional Rail and Amtrak trains.
The Exton Square Mall serves a wide area. People from most of Chester County, and parts of nearby Delaware, Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster counties, come to shop here.
History of Exton Square Mall
The Exton Square Mall was built by The Rouse Company. It first opened its doors in March 1973. When it first opened, the mall had one main store, Strawbridge & Clothier. It also had many smaller shops around it.
Interestingly, Pennsylvania's very first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened here in 1973. It is still part of the mall's food court today. When building the mall, The Rouse Company also helped restore the Zook House. This was a historic 18th-century farmhouse on the mall's land.
Mall Expansion and Growth
By the 1990s, the mall was getting older and needed updates. So, plans were made to make it much bigger. In 1995, The Rouse Company decided to double the mall's size. They bought more land for this big expansion.
New anchor stores like Boscov's, JCPenney, and Sears agreed to open locations. In 1997, the local township approved the expansion plans.
Construction for the expansion started in December 1997. The historic Zook House, which was used as the mall office, was moved to make space for the new Boscov's store. The expansion added three new main stores, a new food court, and two parking garages. It also completed the second floor of the mall. The new design was made to look like the farming history of Chester County.
The Rouse Company also spent $3 million to improve the roads near the mall. Boscov's, Sears, and the new food court opened in 1999. The whole expansion finished in May 2000. This included the opening of JCPenney and 48 new stores. A big celebration was held to mark the reopening. The expansion cost $125 million. The mall grew from 95 stores to 150 stores. Its retail space increased from 435,000 square feet (40,413 m2) to 980,000 square feet (91,045 m2). This made Exton Square Mall the first large regional mall in Chester County.
Changes in Ownership and Stores
In 2003, The Rouse Company sold Exton Square Mall to PREIT. This sale included several other malls for a total of $548 million. In 2005, the Strawbridge's store at the mall became a Macy's store. This happened because another company bought Strawbridge's.
In 2014, the JCPenney store announced it would close. After this, PREIT planned to update the mall. They took over the Kmart building nearby in 2016. On July 29, 2015, PREIT announced that the Kmart building would be torn down. A Whole Foods Market opened in its place on January 18, 2018.
Also, Round One Entertainment opened a bowling and entertainment center. It took over the first floor of the old JCPenney space in December 2016. In 2017, the Sears Auto Center closed. Then, in July 2019, it was announced that the main Sears store would also close. It closed in September 2019.
In recent years, the mall has seen more empty stores. This is partly because fewer people are visiting malls. Also, there is strong competition from the much larger King of Prussia Mall, which is about 14 miles (23 km) away. Many of the current stores in Exton Square Mall are not typical shops. They include medical offices, a chess club, an art studio, and a chamber of commerce office.
Stores and Facilities at the Mall
The Exton Square Mall has three main stores, called anchor stores. The biggest one is Macy's. It is 181,200 square feet (16,834 m2) in size. It opened with the mall in 1973 as Strawbridge & Clothier, and became Macy's in 2006.
The second largest anchor store is Boscov's. It is 178,000 square feet (16,537 m2) and opened in 1999 during the mall's expansion. The third large anchor spot used to be Sears. It was 144,301 square feet (13,406 m2) and also opened in 1999. Sears closed in September 2019, so that spot is now empty.
There is also a 118,000-square-foot (10,963 m2) space used by Round One Entertainment since 2016. This space was originally JCPenney, which opened in 2000 and closed in 2014. Round One only uses the lower level, so the upper level of that space is still empty.
Other Shops and Food
Besides the main stores, the mall has many smaller shops. These include popular stores like American Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor Loft, aerie, and Zumiez. The mall also has a food court with 13 different places to eat.
The mall is shaped like a square. The first floor goes around the southern half, and the second floor goes around the entire mall. Macy's is in the middle. The old Sears store is at the northwest corner. The food court is at the northeast corner. Boscov's is at the southwest corner, and Round One Entertainment is at the southeast corner.
Additional Facilities
The Exton Square Mall complex also has other useful facilities. These include the Chester County Library at Exton. There is also the Exton Transportation Center, which connects to the King of Prussia mall.
Medical facilities are also located here. The Main Line Health at Exton Square is inside the mall, between Macy's and Boscov's. This facility is designed like a building where many doctors' offices are grouped together.
Economic Impact of the Mall
The opening of the Exton Square Mall in 1973 led to fast growth in West Whiteland Township. The population of the township grew a lot after the mall opened. Many other shopping centers and office buildings have been built in the area since then.
Because of the mall, the West Whiteland Township Police Department was created. This was needed because the mall brought a lot more people and activity to the township. When the mall first opened, some stores in downtown West Chester closed. In 2011, the Exton Square Mall made about $332 in sales for every square foot of space.
Images for kids
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The food court
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The playground in front of the former Sears
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The water fountain in front of Macy's
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Boscov's main entrance
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Round One Entertainment and Main Line Health occupies the area close to the former JCPenney store
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Section of the mall that expanded in 1997-1999 from one to two levels. The old layout only had a lower level with the escalators going up to a higher one level section. After 1999, the section in front of the escalators expanded to two floors.
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Prior to 1997, this section of the mall only had the lower floor. The upper floor was added and opened after 1999, which included JCPenney, Sears, and Boscov's.
