New shops at Montage in Moosic (Reading, Scranton: appointed, city hall, lofts)

[vitodave]

Any one shopping there ?
Has the surrounding areas got much busier or changed due to the shops?
WNEP stated a month or so ago that Moosic has had a increase in crime since the opening of the shops. What is going on up there?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by vitodave

Any one shopping there ?
Has the surrounding areas got much busier or changed due to the shops?
WNEP stated a month or so ago that Moosic has had a increase in crime since the opening of the shops. What is going on up there?

I'm not aware of any increase in crime associated with the recent growth that has occurred on Montage Mountain. There was a large spree not too long ago of car break-ins at the Cinemark Movie Theater parking lot across the street from "The Shoppes," but I haven't heard about any other crimes.

Personally, I find that entire mountain to be repulsive and nothing but a waste of open space, especially now that I have even heard about more retail growth coming to the mountain in the upcoming months. Meanwhile I look at Scranton, Pittston, Carbondale, and our other older communities and wonder just how much more vibrant they would all be if these new businesses had decided to establish themselves there instead. Could you picture Main Street in Pittston with a Talbot's, Ann Taylor Loft, New York & Company, Johnny Rocket's, Ruby Tuesday, etc.? These would serve as essential catalysts to rebuilding our struggling core communities. These new businesses would lure foot traffic back to our downtown areas, and new residents would follow. We'd have thriving, vibrant, historic communities as a result and a preserved Montage Mountain. Instead, we have struggling, decaying downtown areas and a sea of asphalt on that once-pristine mountainside.

I also don't think that "The Shoppes" are attracting as large of a following as they initially thought they might have. I went up there with my friends one time just to "feel it out," and I was extremely disappointed by it. More than half of the stores/restaurants were already existing in our region, many of them at Steamtown in Downtown Scranton (which is now losing tenants as a result). Cinemark and the nearby restaurants (including the new Kildare's and Longhorn at "The Shoppes") are thriving, but "The Shoppes" still seem to be less busy than even the Arena Hub Plaza near Wilkes-Barre.
I don't quite know if it's that most locals perceive the "Shoppes" as being "above" their income levels, if most locals resent what this new lifestyle center is doing to Steamtown, if most locals fear the traffic congestion, or a combination of all three factors, but I thought the place was pretty much a "ghost town," even though we were there on a Saturday. However, there were a good deal of out-of-state license plates dotting the parking lot, indicating that Scranton's tourism market is starting to heat up.

[vitodave]

Any particular reason that area was picked?
Were other areas considered?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by vitodave

Any particular reason that area was picked?
Were other areas considered?

The developer wanted maximum exposure for his new project, and what area could be better than the 80,000 or so vehicles per day that pass by Montage Mountain via I-81? It would have been more environmentally-friendly if the developer, Jeffrey Andersen, had considered perhaps duplicating Reading's unique loft-style outlet stores in an old Scranton factory, but I guess that would have been asking too much.

[I LOVE PA!]

I was dissappointed in the layout, it would have been more quaint to have a street with cobblestones and no cars with a fountain in the center somewhere, with the stores lined up on both sides. It would have made walking to all the stores easier, esepcially for the elderly. If you can't walk much, you could end up parking your car 3 times. I went to check it out, but won't be shopping there on a regular basis. Maybe if I have to drive a car load of teens to the movies, I'd kill some time there. The Christmas Tree shop was interesting, but don't look for any Christmas items there! Kinda like a huge dollar general. My daughter did love one clothing store that is not in either of the malls in Scranton, so maybe we will shop there on a rare occassion.
I agree with Scranton/WilkesBarre's take on the whole thing, but unfortunately you can't stop it from happening. It is all over. Not just here...but the whole country.

[samvit]

I echo SWB's sentiment about the Shoppes. Beyond what he said, I would just say that I was generally impressed with the setup there. I don't see how it's a "lifestyle center" as advertised. It just seemed like a big strip mall to me. I lived in Reston, VA for a long time, home to the Reston Town Center:
Reston Town Center
Now that place was a true lifestyle center. But you know what, maybe it's a good thing that the Shoppes suck. Maybe they'll die a slow death and the focus will be shifted back to Scranton.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

I was dissappointed in the layout, it would have been more quaint to have a street with cobblestones and no cars with a fountain in the center somewhere, with the stores lined up on both sides. It would have made walking to all the stores easier, esepcially for the elderly. If you can't walk much, you could end up parking your car 3 times. I went to check it out, but won't be shopping there on a regular basis. Maybe if I have to drive a car load of teens to the movies, I'd kill some time there. The Christmas Tree shop was interesting, but don't look for any Christmas items there! Kinda like a huge dollar general. My daughter did love one clothing store that is not in either of the malls in Scranton, so maybe we will shop there on a rare occassion.
I agree with Scranton/WilkesBarre's take on the whole thing, but unfortunately you can't stop it from happening. It is all over. Not just here...but the whole country.

Isn't it funny how we killed off all of our traditional downtowns initially for indoor shopping malls in the 1970s? People thought it would be great to have a variety of stores in an indoor location for both convenience and shelter from the elements. Then, we started killing off our indoor shopping malls with strip malls and "power centers," like the Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township or the plazas near the Viewmont Mall in Dickson City. Now, people are tiring of driving from store-to-store at these strip malls and power centers and wish to once again return to the days of walking from store to store along a sidewalk. Instead of doing the logical thing---restoring those old abandoned downtown areas---developers are "experimenting" with these new "lifestyle centers," including the Shoppes @ Montage, wasting even more land in the process. Some lifestyle centers are just as you describe---attractively-landscaped and very reminiscent of a small-town atmosphere. This particular one is a bumbling disaster, just as I predicted it would be from the very beginning. Worst of all, it continues to fleece Steamtown of its tenants; if that mall collapses in onto itself, what will become of the current momentum behind fixing up the city when one of its biggest anchors is gone?

I know MiamiMan is dying to chime in here to tell me "Nobody cares about Scranton. Give it up and just embrace wasting more land." However, how will we explain to our children how we continued to tear down vast acreages of trees while empty buildings sat ready-and-waiting all around us? We're destroying natural habitats for wildlife. We're destroying trees, which help to purify our air. Most importantly, we're destroying the beauty of our region.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by samvit

I echo SWB's sentiment about the Shoppes. Beyond what he said, I would just say that I was generally impressed with the setup there. I don't see how it's a "lifestyle center" as advertised. It just seemed like a big strip mall to me. I lived in Reston, VA for a long time, home to the Reston Town Center:
Reston Town Center
Now that place was a true lifestyle center. But you know what, maybe it's a good thing that the Shoppes suck. Maybe they'll die a slow death and the focus will be shifted back to Scranton.

We can only hope. I wouldn't mind embracing "The Shoppes" if the developer and Moosic Borough officials didn't willingly lie to the public about it. Initially, they promised to bring us a "unique, higher-end shopping experience unlike anything we've ever seen." Now, we have a half-dozen higher-end stores that are new to the region, two great new restaurants, and the rest of the sprawling complex is just picking up stores like Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Eddie Bauer, Hallmark, S&K Menswear, etc. from other locations and plopping them on the mountain. I wouldn't be surprised to see Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister follow their rivals out of Steamtown and into the Shoppes in the upcoming months as well, leaving that mall a virtual ghost-town. I love Steamtown; it was thanks to this mall that I had a reason to come downtown in the first place and totally fell in love with the city. Just today I parked my car in the Steamtown's parking garage and set out on foot to city hall for the council meeting, where I met with WeLuvPA. On the way I saw a city that was on the verge of a major comeback---creative-looking types and professionals, along with a few touristy-looking types were sauntering around the streets near Courthouse Square. I stopped for a moment to admire the images in the front windows of the Connell Building of its upcoming renovation into lofts, offices, and stores. There's just a certain "vibe" up there that I can't wait to be a part of, and I'm willing to "do battle" with anything that threatens to screw up my dream of a cleaned-up city for me, including such predators as "The Shoppes."

[samvit]

<<I would just say that I was generally impressed with the setup there.>>

OOPS!! Major typo there. I meant to say "unimpressed", and in a very big way. But, that was probably evident from the rest of the content of my post.

[samvit]

<<On the way I saw a city that was on the verge of a major comeback---creative-looking types and professionals, along with a few touristy-looking types were sauntering around the streets near Courthouse Square.>>

Hmmm, interesting. Have you seen the recent renovations on the Colonnade (thecolonnade401.com)? It has a long way to go, but they have replaced the pillars. As you know, the business developers of that project are gay. There is something called a "gay index" that correlates strongly with a region's economic prosperity and vibrance. It's not directly due to the representation of those with alternative lifestyles. It has more to do with the fact that such people are attracted to these types of areas. Here is a good article about it:
The Gay Index: Diversity Boosts Business from Monster Career Advice


Boston's gay index is more than double the national average while Scranton's is 79% of the national average. Now, you normally don't associate Boston with having a sizeable gay community. The point is, gay's are attracted to Boston because of its economic and cultural opportunities.

FWIW, I'm not promoting the gay lifestyle, and in fact, I don't accept it as normal. But, I would put myself squarely in the "tolerant" camp and I very much have a live and let live attitude.