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Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a shopping mall that is located in the municipality of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated on heavily traveled U.S. Route 22 Business (US 22 Bus.) near the junction of Interstate 376 (I-376) and the Monroeville interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The mall features JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Macy's, in addition to a Cinemark Theatres. In January 2025, the mall was sold to Walmart, who intends to re-develop the property and demolish the mall.
Completed in 1969 by Oxford Development Company, the mall was extensively renovated and expanded between 2003 and 2004, and features the traditional retailers Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, and Macy's in addition to a Cinemark Theatres. It contains 1,418,700 square feet (131,800 m2) of retail space on 170 acres (0.7 km2), making it the largest shopping complex in Western Pennsylvania in terms of square footage. From 2004 to 2025, it was owned by Chattanooga, Tennessee based CBL & Associates Properties. It was one of two CBL-owned malls in the Pittsburgh area, the other being Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg.
Several major shopping centers, including the Miracle Mile Shopping Center, national retailers and restaurants can be found along the U.S. Route 22 commercial corridor, adjacent to the Monroeville Mall, creating the biggest such concentration of retailers and other commercial businesses in the eastern environs of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. This mall is located on Mall Circle Drive, across from Monroeville Convention Center, venue of the Pittsburgh Comicon, a comic book convention, from 2009 to 2014.
Before the 1950s postwar migration movement, Monroeville was predominantly a rural farming area. The opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the early 1950s, followed by completion of Interstate 376 (Parkway East) in the early 1960s, spurred the growth of Monroeville and its eastern suburbs. In November 1954, the Miracle Mile Shopping Center opened for business with numerous shops and eateries. As shopping malls increased in popularity in the 1960s, residents of Monroeville and the eastern suburbs shopped at the now-defunct Eastland Mall in nearby North Versailles, or at Greengate Mall (now demolished and rebuilt as Greengate Centre) in Greensburg, Westmoreland County.
During the mid-1960s, Don-Mark Realty (later Oxford Development Company) proposed building the largest shopping mall in the United States, and acquired a 280-acre (1.1 km2) tract of land known as Harper's Mine. Despite local residents questioning the suitability of the site, Don-Mark was confident that it was perfect. By 1966, grading equipment was used on the site in preparation for the mall's construction. More than 5,000,000 cubic yards (3,800,000 m3) of dirt was moved to level the 110-acre (0.45 km2) portion of the 280-acre (1.1 km2) site, with excavation costs totaling $2.5 million at the time. Construction on the $30 million mall then began in 1967 and lasted for two years. Parking lots were then paved and spaced to accommodate 6,500 vehicles.
On Tuesday, May 13, 1969, the 1,130,000-square-foot (105,000 m2) Monroeville Mall opened its doors with Gimbels and Joseph Horne Co. at opposite ends and JCPenney in the middle. The five and dime G. C. Murphy store provided a lower-price alternative for shoppers on the lower level. The mall contained 125 stores on two levels and featured the Ice Palace, a skating rink. Another unique feature was the location of a local Italian restaurant directly adjacent to the rink, with large picture windows in its dining rooms that gave patrons direct views of skaters on the rink. The mall's opening would contribute to the eventual decline and closure of the East Hills Shopping Center in nearby Penn Hills, a smaller outdoor mall also anchored by Horne's. It would also affect business at the nearby Miracle Mile Shopping Center, which was greatly impacted following the relocation of its JCPenney store to the Monroeville Mall, although business would gradually level out over time.
The mall was decorated with fountains and plant life that flourished under enormous skylights. The Gimbels court of the mall featured a large yellow clock tower that housed 12 animated puppets, each one representing an ethnic group in the Pittsburgh area. One puppet performed every hour, and all performed together at 1pm and 6pm. The court at the Horne's end of the mall had a large, circular fountain, surrounded by a seating area. The store selection in the mall ranged from high fashion to hardware. There was a bank, several places to eat, pharmacies, pubs and even a ministry center, as developers had intended on making the mall into an indoor "town center" for the Monroeville community.
With Monroeville Mall fully operational, the areas surrounding the mall began to develop as well. Outparcels such as a movie theater, a Marriott hotel, a freestanding Montgomery Ward store, and a number of retailers, auto service centers and restaurants were subsequently built during the 1970s. The mall annex would also be developed directly behind the mall and feature an A&P supermarket, among other businesses. The A&P closed in 1992, and was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory in 1993, Dick's Sporting Goods in 1995, OfficeMax in 1998, and LensCrafters eye shop in the fall of 1987. The Greater Pittsburgh Merchandise Mart, the predecessor to the much larger Pittsburgh ExpoMart of Monroeville, was developed as a facility for the display of goods by representatives of various manufacturers. It would be replaced by the larger facility in 1981 and redeveloped for the now defunct Borders bookstore which opened in January 1993. In February 1984, much to the dismay of local residents, the Ice Palace was replaced by a food court. In later years, most of the mall's decorative ponds and bridges would be replaced by numerous carts and kiosks. In the early 1990s, the distinctive clock tower was dismantled in lieu of a stage, which has since been removed, while the fountain at the opposite end was removed in the early 2000s for a children's play area, themed to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In 2009, the ExpoMart was converted into office space and a smaller convention center opened along Mall Boulevard in a renovated former Wickes Furniture store.
Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a shopping mall that is located in the municipality of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated on heavily traveled U.S. Route 22 Business (US 22 Bus.) near the junction of Interstate 376 (I-376) and the Monroeville interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The mall features JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Macy's, in addition to a Cinemark Theatres. In January 2025, the mall was sold to Walmart, who intends to re-develop the property and demolish the mall.
Completed in 1969 by Oxford Development Company, the mall was extensively renovated and expanded between 2003 and 2004, and features the traditional retailers Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, and Macy's in addition to a Cinemark Theatres. It contains 1,418,700 square feet (131,800 m2) of retail space on 170 acres (0.7 km2), making it the largest shopping complex in Western Pennsylvania in terms of square footage. From 2004 to 2025, it was owned by Chattanooga, Tennessee based CBL & Associates Properties. It was one of two CBL-owned malls in the Pittsburgh area, the other being Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg.
Several major shopping centers, including the Miracle Mile Shopping Center, national retailers and restaurants can be found along the U.S. Route 22 commercial corridor, adjacent to the Monroeville Mall, creating the biggest such concentration of retailers and other commercial businesses in the eastern environs of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. This mall is located on Mall Circle Drive, across from Monroeville Convention Center, venue of the Pittsburgh Comicon, a comic book convention, from 2009 to 2014.
Before the 1950s postwar migration movement, Monroeville was predominantly a rural farming area. The opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the early 1950s, followed by completion of Interstate 376 (Parkway East) in the early 1960s, spurred the growth of Monroeville and its eastern suburbs. In November 1954, the Miracle Mile Shopping Center opened for business with numerous shops and eateries. As shopping malls increased in popularity in the 1960s, residents of Monroeville and the eastern suburbs shopped at the now-defunct Eastland Mall in nearby North Versailles, or at Greengate Mall (now demolished and rebuilt as Greengate Centre) in Greensburg, Westmoreland County.
During the mid-1960s, Don-Mark Realty (later Oxford Development Company) proposed building the largest shopping mall in the United States, and acquired a 280-acre (1.1 km2) tract of land known as Harper's Mine. Despite local residents questioning the suitability of the site, Don-Mark was confident that it was perfect. By 1966, grading equipment was used on the site in preparation for the mall's construction. More than 5,000,000 cubic yards (3,800,000 m3) of dirt was moved to level the 110-acre (0.45 km2) portion of the 280-acre (1.1 km2) site, with excavation costs totaling $2.5 million at the time. Construction on the $30 million mall then began in 1967 and lasted for two years. Parking lots were then paved and spaced to accommodate 6,500 vehicles.
On Tuesday, May 13, 1969, the 1,130,000-square-foot (105,000 m2) Monroeville Mall opened its doors with Gimbels and Joseph Horne Co. at opposite ends and JCPenney in the middle. The five and dime G. C. Murphy store provided a lower-price alternative for shoppers on the lower level. The mall contained 125 stores on two levels and featured the Ice Palace, a skating rink. Another unique feature was the location of a local Italian restaurant directly adjacent to the rink, with large picture windows in its dining rooms that gave patrons direct views of skaters on the rink. The mall's opening would contribute to the eventual decline and closure of the East Hills Shopping Center in nearby Penn Hills, a smaller outdoor mall also anchored by Horne's. It would also affect business at the nearby Miracle Mile Shopping Center, which was greatly impacted following the relocation of its JCPenney store to the Monroeville Mall, although business would gradually level out over time.
The mall was decorated with fountains and plant life that flourished under enormous skylights. The Gimbels court of the mall featured a large yellow clock tower that housed 12 animated puppets, each one representing an ethnic group in the Pittsburgh area. One puppet performed every hour, and all performed together at 1pm and 6pm. The court at the Horne's end of the mall had a large, circular fountain, surrounded by a seating area. The store selection in the mall ranged from high fashion to hardware. There was a bank, several places to eat, pharmacies, pubs and even a ministry center, as developers had intended on making the mall into an indoor "town center" for the Monroeville community.
With Monroeville Mall fully operational, the areas surrounding the mall began to develop as well. Outparcels such as a movie theater, a Marriott hotel, a freestanding Montgomery Ward store, and a number of retailers, auto service centers and restaurants were subsequently built during the 1970s. The mall annex would also be developed directly behind the mall and feature an A&P supermarket, among other businesses. The A&P closed in 1992, and was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory in 1993, Dick's Sporting Goods in 1995, OfficeMax in 1998, and LensCrafters eye shop in the fall of 1987. The Greater Pittsburgh Merchandise Mart, the predecessor to the much larger Pittsburgh ExpoMart of Monroeville, was developed as a facility for the display of goods by representatives of various manufacturers. It would be replaced by the larger facility in 1981 and redeveloped for the now defunct Borders bookstore which opened in January 1993. In February 1984, much to the dismay of local residents, the Ice Palace was replaced by a food court. In later years, most of the mall's decorative ponds and bridges would be replaced by numerous carts and kiosks. In the early 1990s, the distinctive clock tower was dismantled in lieu of a stage, which has since been removed, while the fountain at the opposite end was removed in the early 2000s for a children's play area, themed to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In 2009, the ExpoMart was converted into office space and a smaller convention center opened along Mall Boulevard in a renovated former Wickes Furniture store.
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