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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 06-03-2011, 10:58 AM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,411,876 times
Reputation: 3730

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Quote:
Originally Posted by W-B proud View Post
People may look back on The Steamtown Mall as a mistake now, but it was the building of the mall that sparked the rebirth of downtown Scranton in the first place...wasn't it? That's what I've heard anyway. Malls all over the country are "out of style" right now. It's not unique to Scranton. At the time when it was built, malls were still the shopping experience of choice. I know that the Wyoming Valley Mall has a shadow of the hords of shoppers it used to have in the 1990's. It used to get so packed that you couldn't even walk through without being shoulder to shoulder with other shoppers, now it's like a ghost town in there. To much new competition. People are to busy these days to park at a mall and stroll around for half a day. They want to pull up to a Target or Wal-Mart... get what they need and get out. Plus, lets face it, you'll pay premium prices at a mall compared to a discount department store, people do not have the money or time to blow at the mall anymore. Maybe if the economy improves in the future, the malls will become popular again... maybe not!
it really was great at the time. the movie theater, the mall. it was wonderful. no longer going to the theater at viewmont or near kmart...everyone went to scranton. then...Cinemark came and bang! no more going to downtown scranton...maybe if they continued with making it a destination it would have been able to compete but it just started slipping. then viewmont was remodeled, and steamtown fell by the wayside. i still remember whatching the implosion live!
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Old 06-03-2011, 11:29 AM
 
Location: PA/FL/UT
1,294 posts, read 3,255,968 times
Reputation: 530
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradykp View Post
it really was great at the time. the movie theater, the mall. it was wonderful. no longer going to the theater at viewmont or near kmart...everyone went to scranton. then...Cinemark came and bang! no more going to downtown scranton...maybe if they continued with making it a destination it would have been able to compete but it just started slipping. then viewmont was remodeled, and steamtown fell by the wayside. i still remember whatching the implosion live!
I also remember watching the implosion on tv as a kid. It was a big deal and remember thinking that we went to downtown a lot after the mall was built but never before.

Sure it was a mistake in the long run, but it seemed to make sense to normal, everyday ppl as well as the evil, bureaucratic politicians at the time. Win some, lose some.
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Old 06-03-2011, 11:46 AM
 
4,277 posts, read 11,794,705 times
Reputation: 3933
$650,000,000 in debt for a city of 76,000 residents is still less than $10,000 per, there are a lot of little towns in this state that are on the hook for more.
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Old 06-03-2011, 11:47 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,827,904 times
Reputation: 4425
The downtown Scranton movie theater might be able to compete if they could find a different company to run it.....the company that runs it now does not take care of the place, its dirty and not properly staffed. Very poor maintenance of the place....and no movies in 3D. I would love to be able to just go downtown to see a movie, but not to that place.....both Cinemark and Great Escape are much nicer and have 3D, XD, and IMAX, and its not like Moosic and Dickson City are a million miles away....I can be at either theater in under 10 minutes.
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Old 06-03-2011, 12:20 PM
 
1,429 posts, read 3,643,603 times
Reputation: 574
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradykp View Post
it really was great at the time. the movie theater, the mall. it was wonderful. no longer going to the theater at viewmont or near kmart...everyone went to scranton. then...Cinemark came and bang! no more going to downtown scranton...maybe if they continued with making it a destination it would have been able to compete but it just started slipping. then viewmont was remodeled, and steamtown fell by the wayside. i still remember whatching the implosion live!

Scranton built probably one of the last traditional malls in the US, the previous one being built 20-some odd years earlier. Everyone was switching to the outdoor mall concept and that is what the Mall at Steamtown should have been. Instead we went with an outdated design, and the kowtowing was simply transferred from Russell Preston to Al Boscov.

I can't recall if it was Wegmans, or another chain, that wanted to build their newest location along providence road, where the new high school is now. A lot of wrangling and stonewalling occurred, and combined with the bus/merc tax, in the end they decided to build in Dickson City. The rest soon followed. Look at all of the development in the valley - it's there because of the caustic business atmosphere in the city.
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Old 06-03-2011, 12:32 PM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,827,904 times
Reputation: 4425
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrantonluna View Post
Scranton built probably one of the last traditional malls in the US, the previous one being built 20-some odd years earlier.

That's why Scranton is the place to be at the end of the world.....we're always 20 years behind!
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Old 06-03-2011, 12:35 PM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,827,904 times
Reputation: 4425
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrantonluna View Post
I can't recall if it was Wegmans, or another chain, that wanted to build their newest location along providence road, where the new high school is now. A lot of wrangling and stonewalling occurred, and combined with the bus/merc tax, in the end they decided to build in Dickson City. The rest soon followed. Look at all of the development in the valley - it's there because of the caustic business atmosphere in the city.
Its not a coincidence that most big businesses are just over the city line in Dickson City, Taylor, and Moosic. Close enough to Scranton to draw customers from the city, but away from Scranton's oppressive business taxes and toxic political climate.
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Old 06-06-2011, 03:43 PM
 
8 posts, read 22,810 times
Reputation: 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by W-B proud View Post
People may look back on The Steamtown Mall as a mistake now, but it was the building of the mall that sparked the rebirth of downtown Scranton in the first place...wasn't it? That's what I've heard anyway. Malls all over the country are "out of style" right now. It's not unique to Scranton. At the time when it was built, malls were still the shopping experience of choice. I know that the Wyoming Valley Mall has a shadow of the hords of shoppers it used to have in the 1990's. It used to get so packed that you couldn't even walk through without being shoulder to shoulder with other shoppers, now it's like a ghost town in there. To much new competition. People are to busy these days to park at a mall and stroll around for half a day. They want to pull up to a Target or Wal-Mart... get what they need and get out. Plus, lets face it, you'll pay premium prices at a mall compared to a discount department store, people do not have the money or time to blow at the mall anymore. Maybe if the economy improves in the future, the malls will become popular again... maybe not!
plus realize that people like me realize that better discounts are to be had online. Theres not much I'd purchase from stores if I really dont need it right this instant.
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Old 06-07-2011, 12:55 AM
 
1,245 posts, read 3,184,677 times
Reputation: 535
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrantonluna View Post
Scranton built probably one of the last traditional malls in the US, the previous one being built 20-some odd years earlier. Everyone was switching to the outdoor mall concept and that is what the Mall at Steamtown should have been.
"the previous traditional mall being built 20 years earlier" I see you have on your "I'm making sh*t up as I go" hat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

You may want to check your "probably" the last indoor mall in America was built in 2006.

The Slow Death of the Shopping Mall

Given that this is 13 years after steamtown was opened, you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Not to mention, I suppose in the mid-1990's When the King of Prussia Mall completely rebuilt and enlarged half of it's property, someone forgot to give them the "outdoor mall is the future" memo. KoP mall is still crowded, others in the area are not (Plymouth meeting mall).

Who in their right mind thought in 1986(when planning first started), upscale outdoor shopping centers were the wave of the future? Nobody in the northeast did. Maybe in the south or in California.

I still detest outdoor shopping areas, especially in colder months or the dog days of summer.

Feel proud Scranton, the iconic Mall of America opened only 1 year before The Mall at Steamtown.

In any event, Marquee has a long list of free kid movies this summer, stop by and we may see you there.

Last edited by Lehigh Valley Native; 06-07-2011 at 01:41 AM..
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Old 06-07-2011, 10:18 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,827,904 times
Reputation: 4425
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native View Post

Feel proud Scranton, the iconic Mall of America opened only 1 year before The Mall at Steamtown.

Mall of America and KOP malls are also in much more populated areas, and those malls are so large they are tourist attractions, not to mention the Mall of America has other attractions like an amusement park....the Steamtown Mall is just a small, run of the mill small-town mall built only a few miles from an existing mall. A city the size of Scranton and its surrounding towns just doesn't have the population to support 2 malls.

They should just close half of the shopping area in the Steamtown Mall and try to bring in Dave and Buster's.
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