Fairgrounds Square Mall facts for kids
Southeast entrance to Fairgrounds Square Mall in 2016
|
|
| Location | Muhlenberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°22′53″N 75°55′49″W / 40.381312°N 75.930172°W |
| Address | 3050 N. 5th St. Highway |
| Opening date | October 1980 |
| Closing date | April 30, 2018 |
| Developer | Interstate Properties |
| Owner | Hull Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 75 (at peak) |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 |
| Total retail floor area | 725,000 square feet (67,400 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in Boscov's and Burlington Coat Factory) |
| Parking | Parking lot |
| Public transit access |  BARTA bus: 1, 2 |
Fairgrounds Square Mall was a shopping mall located near Reading, Pennsylvania. It was in a place called Muhlenberg Township. A shopping mall is a large building with many different stores inside.
The mall had big main stores called anchor stores. These included Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, and Limerick Furniture. Other stores were Super Shoes, Planet Fitness, and an AMC Classic movie theater.
At its busiest, the mall had 75 stores! But before it closed in 2018, it only had 14 stores left. The mall was on 5th Street Highway.
Contents
History of the Mall
The Fairgrounds Square Mall opened in October 1980. It was built by a company called Interstate Properties. The mall was built where the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway used to be.
When it first opened, the main stores were Boscov's and JCPenney. The Boscov's store had actually opened earlier, in 1965, next to the old speedway.
Changes Over the Years
In 1988, the mall got bigger and added more stores. Later, in 1996, it was updated again. A new main store, Montgomery Ward, was built then. But this store closed just three years later, in 1999.
That same year, the mall was sold to a new owner. The JCPenney store changed into an outlet store. Outlet stores sell items at lower prices.
In 2000, a furniture store called Jason's Furniture Outlet opened in the old Montgomery Ward space. Later, in 2005, Burlington Coat Factory moved into the mall. Jason's Furniture Outlet then became Super Shoes and Planet Fitness.
Mall Ownership Changes
In 2011, the JCPenney Outlet store was going to close. But then, a different company bought all the JCPenney Outlet stores. They renamed them JC's 5 Star Outlet.
The mall's owner had some money problems. So, the mall was sold in an auction in 2013. JC's Five Star Outlet closed later that year.
In 2014, Limerick Furniture opened in the space where JC's Five Star Outlet used to be. A new company, Hull Property Group, took over the mall in 2016. They wanted to make the mall better.
The Mall Closes
In early 2018, Limerick Furniture announced it would close. They said not enough people were visiting the mall. This left only Burlington Coat Factory and Boscov's as the main stores.
By March 2018, the mall had only 12 stores left. It used to have 75! On April 30, 2018, Hull Property Group closed the inside of the mall.
Some stores that had their own outside entrances stayed open. These included Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, AMC Classic, Super Shoes, and Planet Fitness.
Plans for the Future
Hull Property Group had plans to change the mall area. They wanted to tear down most of the mall. The plan was to keep only Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, AMC Classic, Super Shoes, and Planet Fitness.
The old mall area would become green spaces and new stores. There were also ideas for new homes and a hotel.
In May 2019, some of these plans were put on hold. But in June 2019, Hull Property Group announced they would still tear down about 80 percent of the mall. Demolition of the Fairgrounds Square Mall began in March 2020.
