Springfield Mall

Never mind the grim economic climate. Springfield Associates, owner of the Springfield Mall, is taking a gamble on a $100 million expansion and renovation that would add two department-store buildings and a modern retail area to the mall. Springfield Associates president Kenneth Kaiserman had the Blue Route in mind when he embarked on the expansion plan, he said Thursday in announcing the project. "It's going to have a great impact on us," Kaiserman said about the soon- to-be-completed highway interchange being erected just a few thousand feet to the west of the mall.

Ingrid McCurdy says she opposes Kenneth Kaiserman's proposal to amend the Springfield Township zoning code so the Springfield Mall can be expanded because she does not want another "disaster" on Sproul Road. Kaiserman, the mall's owner, wants to change the code to allow him to put more building coverage on the 45-acre property at Sproul Road and Baltimore Pike and to allow him to build as close as 100 feet to structures on abutting properties. The change would be necessary to his plan to expand the mall, from about 540,000 square feet to 765,000 square feet, Kaiserman says.

Resting quietly on a bench in the Springfield Mall, about a foot from where a makeshift bomb landed on Sunday, Howard Jackson described himself as "a fatalist. " "I never worry about this kind of thing," Jackson, 78, said yesterday. "But there will be a third time now. It always comes in threes. " Jackson, a Broomall resident who spends six days a week walking through suburban malls for exercise, said he would not stop coming to this one despite the bombing and the Oct. 30 rampage in which Sylvia Seegrist shot 10 people, fatally injuring three.

A multimillion-dollar face-lift that adds several amenities to the Springfield Mall is almost complete, following eight months of renovations that had shoppers at times squeezing past construction barriers and walking on unfinished concrete or temporary wooden flooring. Earlier this week, work crews were still putting the finishing touches on the new mall entrances, which now have doors that open electronically. And the only person who had ridden on the new elevator was the mall's Santa Claus.

Casual in a yellow-checked shirt and dark slacks, Howard Jackson lounged on a square wooden bench yesterday, watching the Springfield Mall shoppers scurry by. A makeshift bomb exploded Sunday right next to where Jackson now sat, but it didn't faze the 78-year-old Broomall man. Neither did last October's horror show at the Springfield Mall, when three people were killed in a random shooting spree. "This is the second, there will be a third," predicted Jackson, who comes to the mall to walk around and get exercise.

A power outage at Springfield Mall closed 80 businesses for most of yesterday, forcing shoppers to rearrange their plans and some mall employees to work in the darkened areas. The outage, which occurred around closing time at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, was believed to be the result of a faulty underground power line along Baltimore Pike in front of the shopping center, said Joe Cianfrani, the mall's director of maintenance operations. Only the mall's department stores - Macy's and Strawbridge's - were unaffected by the outage.

Strawbridge's has spent $14.5 million to redo the former John Wanamaker store at the Springfield Mall. Not only that, but the mall itself has begun a multimillion-dollar face-lift - complete with new skylights, marble flooring and a waterfall elevator in the central court. To top it off, the Dancing Shopping Bags will perform as part of today's grand-opening shindig at the 190,000-square-foot Strawbridge's store in Delaware County. It might be worth showing up just to see what name is on the bags.

Call it a sign of the times. The borough already has plans to revitalize its business district, legalize liquor sales, and build a hotel on the college campus. Now, it plans to greet visitors with a welcome sign in a gateway park across from the Springfield Mall. The plan gained momentum last summer when a longtime resident donated a triangular piece of vacant land on the southwest corner of Baltimore Pike and Route 320 (Cedar Lane) for the park. The plot, less than a half-acre and zoned commercial, has a 220-foot frontage on the pike and 75 feet along Cedar Lane.

A man in his 50s was fatally struck by a SEPTA trolley Friday night outside the Springfield Mall in Delaware County, an agency spokeswoman said. The man was struck about 8:10 p.m. by a Route 101 trolley and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. SEPTA spokeswoman Heather Redfern said that trolley service was halted for the police investigation and that shuttle buses were taking passengers between the Woodland Avenue and Media stops. Service resumed before 10 p.m. - Robert Moran

Special Events Woof Wednesdays Doggie special Wed. in summer. Bring your dog & receive half price doggie treats. Trolley Car Cafe, 3269 S. Ferry Rd. Varies per item. Books and Brushes, Beef and Beer Fundraiser A fundraiser to raise money for local Pottstown organizations and community programs. Ballroom on High, 310 E. High St., Pottstown. $20. 8/13. 6-9 pm. Collegeville Farmers' Market Fresh produce, baked items, local wines, crafts & more. Downtown Collegeville, Main St., Collegeville.

IF YOU NEVER set foot in the Bazaar, it's tough to understand its place in Delaware County's collective memory, and why the question "Remember the Bazaar?" can still set off an hour-long discussion 17 years after its doors closed. The Bazaar of All Nations, as it was formally named, was a massive indoor shopping center on the border of Upper Darby and Clifton Heights, a blue-collar precursor to the modern mall. Built in 1960 on the grounds of an old mental hospital, the Bazaar was a semi-surreal maze of pegboard, wood paneling, chicken wire and miles of fluorescent lights.

BLACK FRIDAY, the day to rejoice in great deals or revolt against massive consumerism, has arrived. The annual post-Thanksgiving, shop-till-you-drop tradition that kicks off the holiday shopping season, and is covered by the media with a frenzy befitting a World Series game, has its feverish fans and its devoted detractors. It's a day when retailers entice shoppers with deep discounts, when malls give out free snacks and when festive events are intended to get everyone "into the spirit" of the season, retail observers say. For anti-consumer advocates, Black Friday is known as "Buy Nothing Day," a time to stay away from bustling malls and reflect, they say, on the toll that consumerism has taken on the planet.

Struggling retailers have delivered a blow to the Gallery at Market East in recent months, leaving empty storefronts just as casino investors eye the Center City mall as a potential home to a gambling hall. The Gallery is among several area malls owned by Ronald Rubin's company, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, that had trouble during the last quarter. They are victims of the recession, which recently sent one of the nation's largest mall owners, General Growth Properties Inc., into bankruptcy.

IT IS THE day after the massacre, and Steve Armor walks through the halls of Springfield Delco High School drawing a few incredulous stares from classmates and teachers as he proudly wears his maroon, form-fitting, Virginia Tech shirt, with the orange VT emblazoned on the chest. The prevailing question that comes from everyone: "You're still going there?" The nation adopted Virginia Tech last month. We all became Hokies for a few days, though, for a trio of local high school athletes, they feel like their commitment to the school has helped the healing.

The shuttered Strawbridge's store in the Springfield Mall, Delaware County, will be sold to Target Corp., leaving the Minneapolis company owning two store buildings less than two miles apart on Baltimore Pike. Target said it hadn't yet decided what to do with the two buildings. Federated Department Stores Inc., the seller, would not disclose further details on the sale announced yesterday. The Strawbridge's store in the mall has been closed for several months. Typically, Target does not buy mall stores, although its chain does include 99 mall locations, company spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter said.

Federated Department Stores Co. said yesterday that it would close seven Strawbridge's stores in Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. The company would not give an exact date, but Pennsylvania officials have been told they will close by mid-March. The stores are in malls with Macy's outlets, which are also operated by Federated and will remain open. About 1,000 employees could lose their jobs. "The unfortunate reality is that some people will lose their jobs," Macy's spokeswoman Elina Kazan said yesterday.

Mall owners Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and Kravco Simon Investments L.P. have agreed to buy Springfield Mall in Delaware County for about $103.5 million. The Philadelphia-based mall operators said yesterday they would each own half of the 590,000-square-foot mall, which has anchor tenants Macy's and Strawbridge's as well as 75 other retailers. The mall is being sold by Springfield Associates, the Philadelphia-based limited partnership that built it in 1971. PREIT vice chairman Jonathan Weller said Springfield Mall was attractive because it is in the densely populated Baltimore Pike-Interstate 476 area, where household incomes have been rising.

The holiday shopping season is finally over except for gift returns and bargain hunters, and now senior mall walkers can once again claim their early-morning turf. There are at least 11 malls of varying sizes in the four-county Pennsylvania suburbs, and each welcomes older adults and others to walk their retail corridors for exercise before normal opening hours. The malls are particularly attractive to seniors during the winter months, when cold weather and snow chase all but the hardiest off the streets.