South Hills Village
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| Location |
Washington Road (U.S. 19) and Fort Couch Road Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°20′36.43″N 80°3′17.11″W / 40.3434528°N 80.0547528°WCoordinates: 40°20′36.43″N 80°3′17.11″W / 40.3434528°N 80.0547528°W |
| Opening date | July 28, 1965 |
| Developer | Oxford Development |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 133 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,137,000 square feet (105,600 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 (Macy's is 3 levels. Sears is 2 levels. Dick's Sporting Goods is 2 levels and Target is one level, Dick's is located on top of Target.) |
| Website | South Hills Village |
South Hills Village is a two-level shopping mall located in the Pittsburgh suburbs of Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair. It was developed by the Oxford Development Co. as the first shopping complex in Greater Pittsburgh to be built as a fully enclosed structure. The two-level complex is currently owned by Simon Property Group, who acquired it in 1997. It is anchored by Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, 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., J.Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, and an Apple, Inc. store. The mall also houses a food court and several professional offices. South Hills Village was the largest in Greater Pittsburgh until the Monroeville Mall, also built by the Oxford Development Company, opened in 1969.
Located across the street from Macy's is the South Hills Village light rail station. This terminal opened for revenue service in July 1985.
Businesses located just outside the mall include Eat 'N Park, Carmike 10 Theater, First Niagara Bank, and a 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, two are still in business today: Sears and General Nutrition Center.
Anchor stores
- Dick's Sporting Goods (88,400 sq. ft.)
- Macy's (277,700 sq. ft.)
- Sears (146,000 sq ft.)
- Target (145,000 sq. ft.)
Former anchors
- Gimbels (originally 169,300 square feet) expanded (to 254,000 square feet) and reopened -as Kaufmann's- in August 1987. Became Boscov's in August 2006, shuttered in October 2008. Renovated into vertically stacked Target and Dick's Sporting Goods in 2012-2013.
- Joseph Horne Company (255,700 square feet). Reopened -as Lazarus- in October 1995. Became Macy's in February 2005.
In 1970, the entire Gimbels chain was purchased by the tobacco conglomerate BATUS. In 1986, after years of declining sales, BATUS announced that Gimbels 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. (U.S. Route 19) in Mt. Lebanon became known as The Galleria of Mt. Lebanon. 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 closed in 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 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. In 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.
Recent development
The vacant three-story Boscov's store (formerly Gimbel's and then Kaufmann's) has been converted for use by Target and Dick's Sporting Goods.[1] This allowed Target to enter Pittsburgh's South Hills market where limited land for new development had precluded a new store. It also allowed Dick's Sporting Goods to open a much larger store to replace the small location formerly on the mall periphery. Target operates on an expanded first level of the space with Dick's taking the second and third floors, though the third floor is only accessible from within the Dick's store.[2] Dick's Sporting Goods had its grand opening October 17, 2012 and Target opened March 6, 2013. [3]
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Hills Village. |