South Hills Village

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = South Hills Village


image_width =
caption =
location = Washington Rd. (U.S. 19) and Fort Couch Rd., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
coordinates = coord|40|20|36.43|N|80|3|17.11|W
opening_date = July 28, 1965
closing_date =
developer = Oxford Development Company
manager =
owner = Simon Property Group
number_of_stores = 133
number_of_anchors = 3
floor_area = convert|904000|sqft|m2
floors = 2 (Boscov's and Macy's are 3 levels
parking =
website = [http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=159 South Hills Village]

The South Hills Village is a two-level enclosed shopping mall located in the upscale Pittsburgh suburbs of Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair. It was originally developed by the Oxford Development Company as the first enclosed two-story shopping mall in the United States and is currently owned by Simon Property Group. It is anchored by Macy's (formerly Lazarus and Horne's) and Sears. The mall features over 130 specialty stores including Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Hollister Co., Aeropostale, J. Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, Lucky Brand Jeans, and an Apple Computer store. The mall also houses a food court and several professional offices. This mall was the largest in the United States until the Monroeville Mall, which was also developed by the Oxford Development Company and planned to be twenty percent larger, opened in 1969.

Located across the street from Macy's is the South Hills Village light rail station.

Businesses located just outside the mall include: Dick's Sporting Goods, Eat 'N Park, Carmike 10 Theater, National City Bank, and Barnes & Noble Bookstore (This appears to be part of the mall, but is only accessible from outside.)

Of the 80+ stores and services that opened up South Hills Village on July 28, 1965, five are still in business today: Sears, Lane Bryant, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Waldenbooks, and General Nutrition Center.

Anchor Stores

*Boscov's (258,134 sq ft., formerly Gimbel's, then Kaufmann's, closing October 2008 [http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2008/08/04/D92BHSR00_boscov_s_list/index.html] )
*Macy's (255,725 sq ft., formerly Horne's, then Lazarus)
*Sears (146,000 sq ft.)

Former Anchors

In 1965, the convert|904000|sqft|m2|sing=on South Hills Village opened with The Joseph Horne Company, Gimbels, and Sears as the original anchors.

In 1970, the entire Gimbels chain was purchased by the tobacco comglomerate BATUS. In 1986, after years of declining sales, BATUS announced that Gimbel's was on the block. Unable to find a buyer for the entire chain, BATUS closed down the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division, selling or closing all locations. Some of the more attractive mall locations, such as South Hills Village, were taken over by the St. Louis based May Department Stores Company for its Pittsburgh based Kaufmann's division. This effectively caused the shuttering of the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division. The South Hills Village location was closed and completely renovated, including the addition of a third floor, before reopening as Kaufmann's. After the move to the mall, the original Kaufmann's location on Washington Rd. (Route 19) in Mt. Lebanon became known as The Galleria. In 2006, when The May Department Stores Company was purchased by Cincinnati based Federated Department Stores, this store was acquired by Boscov's as Macy's was already located in the former Horne's spot at the opposite end of the mall. Boscov's will be closing October 2008.

The Joseph Horne Company (owned by the New York City based Associated Dry Goods Corporation) operated in South Hills Village until 1995. In October of 1986, The May Department Stores Company merged with Associated Dry Goods Corporation. May promptly sold The Joseph Horne Company to a group of local investors. Ikkn 1995, Federated Department Stores acquired Horne's and renamed all former locations under its own Lazarus regional nameplate. In 2005, Federated eventually merged all its divisions (including the former Joseph Horne/Lazarus locations) into Macy's as part of a nationwide rebranding program.

References