Big Changes at Johnstown Mall

Johnstown Comrie Associates LLC., owner of Johnstown Mall, has announced significant changes to Johnstown Mall. Those changes include demolition of most of the mall space and an Ollie's Bargain Outlet in the former White-Modell's/Peebles/Gordmans space.

Initial set of pictures were taken on 25 January and 31 January, 2021. New pictures will be taken as new developements arise.

On 25 January 2021, the Gordmans signage was removed as the mall owners signed a lease for Ollie's Bargain Outlet, which will take up this center space. Multiple scars appear on the building, such as Fantastic Sam's and Johnstown Nails (both are still operating as of January 31, 2021), a Peebles scar, and a GNC scar (GNC closed last year). It is also not clear if J&G Arcade (sign pictured at left) will re-open.

Entering from the Movieplex entrance, it appears the Dollar$ to ₵ents space is in the process of being cleared out.

Normally the theater space is gated off when it is closed, but for unknown reasons it is not. Since the State of New York refuses to re-open movie theaters, plans for it are on hold.

Subway mall entrance. It is not clear if this entrance will be sealed off as this corridor leads to the theater space.

Former GNC space. Store closed last year.

Once temporarily closed, now permanently closed.

Empty Gordmans space, with fixtures still inside. This section is soon to become Ollie's Bargain Outlet.

Miracle Ear, closed on Sundays, will remain in the redeveloped strip center.

Golden Sand Asian Spa, still operating as of January 31, 2021.

Fantastic Sams, still operating as of January 31, 2021.

Johnstown Nails, still operating as of January 31, 2021. Bob's Bargain Outlet (formerly RadioShack) has varied hours and is not open on Sundays. It is not clear if they will still be operating in the redeveloped strip.

Former Dave's Photo Shop, whose interior has been gutted out.

Price Chopper mall entrance, added in the 2006 expansion, which will probably be completely sealed off from the mall.

A door is missing in the middle entrance!

That wraps this section up. This post will be amended as developments arise.

Abandoned: Reid Hill Plaza - Amsterdam, NY

UPDATE: As of 12/14/2023, demolition is underway on this strip mall. A YouTube video from The Daily Gazette shows the demolition in progress.

In a rather seedy, residential area of Amsterdam, NY, in the "5 Corners" is this creepy strip that was once called Reid Hill Plaza, which was abandoned in stages.

All pictures were taken on June 4, 2019.

This section was abandoned in the mid-2000s, with the last spaces vacated around 2007-2008. The space obscured by overgrowth was originally Carl's Drug, then Fay's, and later Eckerd, which closed with the remainder of the chain in late 2007. I am not sure what the other two spaces were, but I believe they vacated the strip around the same time as Eckerd.

This space has been abandoned since the 1990s, and was originally a Save-Way supermarket, which later became P&C Foods.  The pink trim is rather creepy looking, not sure if it's original or from an update. The light-colored brick (now grey for some reason) is original.

Close-up of a rusty sign frame I assume corresponded with Save-Way/P&C. There was another sign stub that may have corresponded with other tenants, but I cannot confirm that.

The First Retail Trip of 2021

In order to make the new year more unique, we decided to go to an unusual store before going to the main attraction.

This is one of two stores operated by Byron's Village Market, in Schuylerville, New York. The other being in Cambridge, New York.

All but one of the carts consisted of these Tote Carts. The MFG. info was mostly unreadable on these.

Inside, we see bagged produce at the cramped front of the store.

The ceiling drops even lower as you are brought into a larger area of the store.

While this old Unarco had some Byron's Market labeling, the side panel shows Greenwich IGA, which was a store that closed in September 2000, only to be re-opened under a different name a year later, but that failed quickly.

The larger half of the store, which appears to be an expansion.

This corridor takes us back to the front.

How old is this?!

That wraps up the tour of this place, now onto the main attraction...

This is Big Lots #4714, which opened on October 20, 2020 in the space formerly occupied by Big Kmart #9274. This is where its former self as a Kmart ends, as we will soon realize as we walk in.

Inside, we see that Big Lots gutted the space and gave the store open ceilings and concrete flooring, which like so many businesses that do tile to concrete conversions, leave unsightly tile marking behind.

What is this purple border? We'll find out soon enough...

Typical for an SOtF store to have furniture in the center of the store and have wood accents on the floors and ceilings.

What's this? Big Lots has updated its décor philosophy in new SOtF stores sometime in 2020. Now everything is dark purple on white instead of color-coded departments in the first SOtF décor philosophy. 

While the Advance Carts HC-200s are no longer interesting, this store had these advertisements inside the logo panel promoting their Big Rewards membership for 15% off your next purchase.

Well, I think we are done here! I hope you enjoyed the previews of things to come this year!