Marple Crossroads, outside Philadelphia
Posted: 22 Mar 2011 21:18
There was an S. Klein department store (low-end New York chain) at 500 S. State Road in Springfield/Marple, PA, just outside of Philadelphia. Since at least the 1980s, this one store has been a whole shopping center of its own called Marple Crossroads. But other stores have been added on. In the past five years, huge chunks have been empty again with the Levitz Furniture, Filene's Basement, Linens 'N Things, and Circuit City bankruptcies, and Wal-Mart/Walmart is reworking the whole center. This building had a Marshalls which was just forced to relocate into the old Filene's Basement space. Before Filene's Basement and DSW were built on this spot a few years ago, a Frank's Nursery was here. I am not 100% sure but this store might have once been a Gaudio's Nursery (owned by Penn Fruit) since most Frank's were. And many Frank's (Gaudio's?) were in former grocery stores. I suspect this one was an Acme or just maybe Food Fair, since A&P and Penn Fruit already had stores across from here. And the ones that were A&P, like most Philly A&Ps, had distinct architecture such as the Centennial or barrel roof. The nearby A&P just might have relocated though, since their nearby store was very small.
I would have lived far away at the time, but I suspect this store just might have spent some time as a JCPenney, maybe a clearance store. They were operating full-size clearance stores as far back as 1977, and strangely some regular stores in big-box format at the time. Many of the stores this center has now could not have opened before 1988. And I am fairly certain S Klein went out of business in 1978-1979. Granite Run Mall down the road, which is a dying mall, opened in 1973-1974. The JCPenney there does not appear to have changed at all since then. But I wonder if they could have "paired" standard stores and clearance outlets. AMC Theatres after all has nearly identical cinemasto the left of both Granite Run and Marple Crossroads. The lighting at the Marshalls also seems to match what JCPenney used in the 1970s. Linens N Things, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory (moving in soon) also seem to like old JCPenney buildings. In fact, I hear the one at Puente Hills Mall near LA shown in "Back To The Future" opened in 1974, closed in 1996, and was subdivided into LNT and other stores.
I would have lived far away at the time, but I suspect this store just might have spent some time as a JCPenney, maybe a clearance store. They were operating full-size clearance stores as far back as 1977, and strangely some regular stores in big-box format at the time. Many of the stores this center has now could not have opened before 1988. And I am fairly certain S Klein went out of business in 1978-1979. Granite Run Mall down the road, which is a dying mall, opened in 1973-1974. The JCPenney there does not appear to have changed at all since then. But I wonder if they could have "paired" standard stores and clearance outlets. AMC Theatres after all has nearly identical cinemasto the left of both Granite Run and Marple Crossroads. The lighting at the Marshalls also seems to match what JCPenney used in the 1970s. Linens N Things, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory (moving in soon) also seem to like old JCPenney buildings. In fact, I hear the one at Puente Hills Mall near LA shown in "Back To The Future" opened in 1974, closed in 1996, and was subdivided into LNT and other stores.