Oxford Valley Mall
 Second floor, looking from Macy's | |
| Location | Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°11′02″N 74°52′51″W / 40.1839°N 74.8807°W / 40.1839; -74.8807Coordinates: 40°11′02″N 74°52′51″W / 40.1839°N 74.8807°W / 40.1839; -74.8807 |
| Opening date | 1973[1] |
| Developer | The Kravco Co.[2] |
| Management | Simon Property Group |
| Owner | Simon Property Group (85.5%) |
| No. of stores and services | 130[1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 (2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,336,364 square feet (124,152.3 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | 2 (3 in JCPenney) |
| Parking | Parking lot |
| Public transit access |   SEPTA bus: 14, 127, 128, 129 |
| Website | http://www.simon.com/mall/oxford-valley-mall |
The Oxford Valley Mall is a two-story shopping mall, managed and 85.5%-owned by the Simon Property Group, that is located next to the popular amusement park Sesame Place near
Langhorne in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Its department stores are JCPenney and Macy's as well as H&M as a minor department store. There is a food court on the second floor, which was originally the second floor of a Woolworth. An office building called One Oxford Valley is located next to the mall.[1]
History
The Oxford Valley Mall was developed by The Kravco Company and opened in 1973.[2][3] In 1986, the Gimbels store was converted to Stern's after Allied Stores purchased seven Gimbels locations in the Philadelphia area.[4] That same year, Bamberger's became Macy's.[5] In 1989, Sears replaced Stern's after the latter closed several stores in the Philadelphia area.[6] The mall underwent a renovation in 1990.[3] In 1992, a separate, 10 screen movie theater was added behind Sears (4 new auditoriums were added in 2004). In 1995, the mall opened its food court on the second floor, replacing what had been the second floor of a Woolworth store.[7][8] In addition, the mall replaced the spiral pedestrian ramp and fountain with a glass-enclosed elevator, upgraded the air conditioning system, and extensively renovated the JCPenney and Sears stores. All fountains were eventually removed with only the outdoor one remaining.[8] The same year, Wanamaker's was converted to Hecht's.[9] In 1997, Hecht's became Strawbridge's after its parent company, May Department Stores, acquired the Strawbridge's chain.[10][11] In 2006, the Strawbridge's store closed as a result of Federated Department Stores acquiring May Department Stores, with Boscov's taking over the former store.[12] The Boscov's store closed in 2008 as part of their restructuring.[13] On October 15, 2018, Sears announced that its store would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide as a result of the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The store closed on January 7, 2019. This left Macy's and JCPenney the only anchors.[14]
On January 13th, 1975, in the parking lot near where the entrance for Gimbels (which later became Sears) was located, 17-year-old Patricia "Patty" Bartlett was fatally stabbed to death. She managed to get to the entrance of Gimbels, where she collapsed. She later died at St. Mary's Medical Center[15]. No signs of robbery or sexual assault were present, which makes this case incredibly hard to solve. Currently, there are no suspects for her homicide. The reason for her being at the mall that night was to buy photo paper and toner, as she was a photographer. She was going to take pictures of the upcoming snow.
References
^ abcd "Oxford Valley Mall Fact Sheet" (PDF). Simon Property Group. Retrieved January 19, 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ ab Demick, Barbara (May 18, 1989). "Kravco And 6 Of Its Malls Sold To A Canadian Developer". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ ab Row, Stephen C. (August 2, 1990). "Oxford Valley Mall Gets Touch-up". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Bivens, Terry (June 18, 1986). "Gimbels To Sell 7 Area Stores Deal Concluded With N.y. Firm". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ "COMPANY NEWS; Bamberger's Shift". The New York Times. September 4, 1986. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
^ Demick, Barbara (April 16, 1989). "Sears Plans Oxford Valley Store". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Inez Ward, Jennifer (August 28, 1995). "Food Is In Store For Ready-to-drop Shoppers At Oxford Valley Mall The Mall's New, Second-floor Food Court Is Home To Pick-me-ups Ranging From Pizza To Pretzels". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ ab Sabatini, Richard V. (February 23, 1995). "Oxford Valley Mall Is Girding To Meet Future Rivals". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Von Bergen, Jane M. (September 10, 1995). "He's Got Plans For Hecht's What Does Ceo Want? Production". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Von Bergen, Jane M. (April 7, 1996). "Phila. Hurdle Remains For May The Company Has The Market. It Must Win Over The People". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Dorazio, Jennifer (September 4, 1997). "At Malls, Shop Till You Drop At Shop After Shop After Shop". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Parmley, Suzette (February 7, 2006). "Boscov's to acquire 10 stores Five will be Strawbridge's, four in the area. The Reading retailer's is the first of the sales of 78 Federated properties". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ "Boscov's closing sales start Saturday". The Philadelphia Inquirer. August 15, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ Bomey, Nathan; Tyko, Kelly (October 15, 2018). "Sears store closing list: 142 more Sears, Kmart locations closing in Chapter 11 bankruptcy". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
^ Writer, BEN FINLEYStaff. "Patty Bartlett (Middletown 1975)". Bucks County Courier Times. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
External links
- Oxford Valley Mall official website
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oxford Valley Mall. |
