Richland Town Center facts for kids
| Location | Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°16′35″N 78°50′38″W / 40.27652°N 78.84385°W |
| Address | U.S. Route 219 at Elton Road and Theatre Drive |
| Opening date | 1974 (as Richland Mall) 2004 (as Richland Town Center) |
| Closing date | 1998 (Richland Mall) |
| Previous names | Richland Mall |
| Developer | Unimich Development |
| Management | MPG Development |
| Owner | MPG Development |
| No. of stores and services | 30+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 8 |
| Total retail floor area | 490,000 square feet (46,000 m2) (Richland Mall) 490,000 square feet (46,000 m2) (Richland Town Center) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 2,000+ spaces |
| Public transit access |  CamTran bus: 9, 11, 17, 21 WCTA bus: 11 |
Richland Town Center is a big shopping area in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. It's known as a "power center" because it has many large stores, called "anchor stores." You can find it along U.S. Route 219 at Elton Road and Theatre Drive.
This shopping center first opened in 2004. It was built on the same spot where an older shopping place, called Richland Mall, used to be. Richland Mall was open from 1974 to 1998. It had big stores like Sears, Kmart, and Penn Traffic. Over time, some of these stores changed names or were replaced. For example, Sears became Hills and then Ames. Penn Traffic changed to Hess's and later to The Bon-Ton.
Richland Mall closed in 1998 because a newer, bigger mall called Johnstown Galleria opened nearby in 1992. After the old mall closed, it was torn down. Then, the new Richland Town Center was built. Today, its main stores include Walmart, TJ Maxx/HomeGoods, Best Buy, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Contents
History of Richland Town Center
How Richland Mall Began
The idea for Richland Mall started in 1974. A company called Unimich Development planned to build it in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The chosen spot was southeast of Johnstown, right off U.S. Route 219. It used to be a drive-in movie theater.
The plans were for a large, indoor shopping mall with about 70 stores. It would have three main "anchor stores." These were Kmart, Sears, and a local store from Johnstown called Penn Traffic. The Sears store was actually moving from another location in Johnstown.
This mall was special because it was the first shopping center in the United States to have both Kmart and Sears as main stores. Also, the Kmart store here was the first in the whole Kmart chain to have a direct entrance from inside the mall. Building work started on May 1, 1973. The mall officially opened on November 4, 1974. However, the three main anchor stores and a Shop 'n Save supermarket opened a little earlier in October.
In 1982, a department store from Allentown, Pennsylvania called Hess's bought the Penn Traffic store. The owners of Hess's decided to update the store. They spent money to add new decorations and even furniture to the store.
Changes and Competition for the Mall
In 1992, a new and larger mall, Johnstown Galleria, opened just north of Richland Mall. This new mall caused big changes. Sears moved its store from Richland Mall to the Johnstown Galleria that same year.
Later, in 1994, The Bon-Ton bought the Hess's store at Richland Mall. By early 1996, the mall owners announced plans to make improvements. They wanted to add an antique carousel and even an ice rink. They also thought about making the Kmart store bigger. Around this time, Hills had taken over the space that Sears used to have.
Even with these plans, Richland Mall started to lose many of its stores. Many shops, including The Bon-Ton, moved to the newer Johnstown Galleria. Because so many stores left, the mall owners announced that most of the mall would close by March 1998. Only Kmart and Hills would stay open for a while longer.
The End of the Mall and the Start of the Town Center
The mostly empty mall was put up for sale in 2000. By then, the Hills store had been bought by Ames. The mall became completely empty in 2003 when both Ames and Kmart closed. Ames closed because its company went out of business. Kmart closed because its lease ended.
With the mall empty, the owners at the time, Heritage Development, began to tear it down. They planned to build a new shopping center with Walmart as a main store.
Richland Town Center opened in stages between late 2004 and early 2005. It was built on the same land where the old Richland Mall once stood. Today, MPG Property Group owns and manages the center. Besides Walmart, other big stores you can find there include TJ Maxx, Best Buy, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
