There are a lot of things Ross Township residents love to complain about. At the top of the list: the many mattress stores along McKnight Road, the traffic light at the intersection of Three Degree Road and Route 19, McCandless Crossing attracting a lot of stores that could have come to Ross, a lack of restaurants compared to similar suburban areas, and Ross Park Mall being too upscale.
When Ross Park Mall first opened in 1986, nobody really said much about the mix of stores. In fact, most Ross residents were quite content with the four-anchor mall throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The first grumblings came in 1997 when the original leases expired, allowing quite a few of the non-fashion tenants, such as National Record Mart, to be replaced with trendy new outlets, such as Abercrombie & Fitch. Still, the complainers were few and far between.
This changed significantly in the wake of the Federated-May merger of 2005. As a result, the existing Macy’s (operating in the former Horne’s/Lazarus space) closed, with Kaufmann’s becoming Macy’s. Other local malls with both a Macy’s (typically a former Horne’s) and a Kaufmann’s tended to keep their Macy’s, but Ross Park’s Kaufmann’s was much larger and expandable, especially with the existing outparcel furniture gallery on site. Boscov’s took over many of the old Kaufmann’s stores, but Simon had other plans for Ross Park’s old Horne’s.
Boscov’s, which is more on par with Kohl’s and JC Penney in terms of merchandise offered, was bypassed in favor of Nordstrom, a store which previously had not entered the Pittsburgh market. At the time, the closest Nordstrom location was the store in Cleveland at Beechwood Place. As soon as the new anchor was announced, everyone knew Simon’s intent for the mall was to make it Pittsburgh’s high-end mall. Around the same time, construction began on an outparcel Cheesecake Factory, a restaurant typically found around trendier retail areas. Designer clothing and jewelry stores followed while existing tenants not focused on selling the latest fashions seemed to vanish. Even the food court, a weak spot of the mall following the departure of Wendy’s, gained a hip new tenant in Five Guys.
Many praised the moves and were satisfied with a destination mall coming to the North Hills of Pittsburgh. Others protested, citing “unaffordable” stores that “nobody would want to shop at”.
Ever see the parking lot at Ross Park Mall on a weekend? How about during the holiday season?
More.. http://nhnewstape.wordpress.com/2014/12/31/is-ross-park-really-too-upscale/
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