West Side Mall

West Side Mall is a 452,000 sq. ft. strip mall located along Wyoming Avenue in Edwardsville, Pennsylvania. Its primary tenants are Price Chopper and A.J. Wright. Smaller tenants include Jo-Ann Fabrics, GNC, and two H&R Block locations.

History
Previously, West Side Mall was an indoor shopping center anchored by a Hills department store, which became an Ames in 1998. Its notable tenants included Waldenbooks, The Wall, Computer Garden, and a video arcade. As retailers left the mall, their storefronts were used by consignment shops in an attempt to keep the mall open until new tenants could be signed, but eventually, the indoor portion of the mall closed. The last store to close was Ames, which had closed its inside mall entrance years earlier because of the lack of retailers inside the mall.

In 2002, the first major new tenant arrived in years, when Price Chopper moved its Kingston location to a new facility at the mall. In 2003, the indoor portion of the mall was finally demolished. In 2005, plans were announced for a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, which will occupy the former Ames site.

Revival Attempts
When the last of the indoor retailers closed, there were several attempts to revive the mall. As ownership changed hands, refurbishments and alterations were rumored, but nothing happened.

The most notable unsuccessful revival plan centered on the addition a new movie theater, a plan that almost came to fruition in 2004 after being rumored for nearly a decade. Marquee Cinemas, a West Virginia theater chain that operates a theater in Scranton, had agreed to bring a modern 14-screen theater to Edwardsville. Just before the deal was signed, however, they learned that a competing theater project in nearby downtown Wilkes-Barre was receiving public money for their project, and pulled out.

The announcement of a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse may be a sign that the mall will once again be the site of significant new development.

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