ECHELON MALL: VOORHEES, NJ
Rob's Commentary:
Posted September 7, 2005 (user submitted August 8, 2005)
Echelon Mall is the second largest mall in Southern NJ. It's also the second largest mall in Camden County itself, following the successful Cherry Hill Mall. Opening at a former airport named Echelon, the mall was named Echelon. Inside Voorhees township, it was part of a Rouse Company developed community.
There are assisted living apartments, residential apartments and condos, some homes and offices surrounding the mall. The Camden County library and YMCA are also located around the mall.
The fully 2-level mall's heydey was probably when it was fully occupied (or atleast over 90%) when Strawbridge&Clothier, JCPenney, Sterns, Woolworths, Echelon Cinema, and Exhilarama were all tenants. I don't know if Echelon ever surpassed Cherry Hill Mall, but it was definitely superior to Deptford and Moorestown for most of its life. Until 2000-ish when Sears and later JCPenney pulled out of the mall.
JCPenney closed two stores, one being in Audubon's Blackhorse Shopping Center, followed by the Echelon Penney's, and basically replaced them with a Deptford mall location, though the Deptford Penney's was open for awhile before the Echelon one closed. JCPenney also pulled out of Center City's Gallery II, pulling out of two PATCO convenient sites.
But to be exact, Sears built into Echelon in the late 90's, and left the mall within a couple years, leaving a mint new building in the mall's parking lot. The mall didn't have the critical mass for 4 mid-range department stores: Strawbridge, Boscov, JCPenney and Sears, without any upscale, discounter, or different type of retail.
The JCPenney likely suffered by being close to a dead Sears, and let's not forget that Rouse Co. left the mall unchanged with a very dated look by not upgrading it, especially by the JCPenney end.
The mall's main problem isn't local demographics. Voorhees township, and eastern Cherry Hill are both desireable. Every Voorhees strip plaza is doing well - ACME, Genuardi's, Target, BJ's and Kohl's have joined right in, along with that the upscale Ritz 16 theater in Voorhees. But, the mall area still hasn't acheived success. The mall isn't quite a destination center, as its located off county roads, not interstate roads, and Cherry Hill is the destination mall.
Meanwhile, an upscale lifestyle center and lot of retail activity has developed in Marlton (Evesham) NJ off Route 73. This likely has put a dent in getting tenants to PREIT's co-owned malls of Cherry Hill, Moorestown and Echelon.
Moorestown isn't the upscale center it was trying to be with Lord&Taylor, but has become the convenience or alternate mall to Cherry Hill. Echelon isn't the convenience mall as much, as it has lost lot of essential mall stores, like JCPenney and GAP.
The JCPenney and Sears buildings are still empty, along with an abandoned movie theater. There is also lot of vacancies throughout the mall. But there are staple tenants like Boscov, Strawbridge(soon macy's), a decent food court, Express, Victoria Secret, Bath&Body Works, Joyce Leslie, Foot Locker, Hot Topic, Suncoast, Pac Sun, Sunglass Hut, Aeropostale, Bombay Co., NY&Co., Gap Kids, Childrens Place, Payless, Shoe Dept., LensCrafters, Borders Express to name a few.
A freestanding Wal-Mart store is planned for the Echelon mall area. Part of the mall and JCPenney will be demolished, and some tenants will occupy the Sears buiding. Will it help the mall? Probably not. But, it will bring some sales tax revenue back. They might as well tear down the entire mall inside, leaving Boscov and Strawbridge (Macy), and make the mall a big box center or square, if that is the thinking.
PREIT Announces Revised Plans for Echelon Mall
09/14/2005 07:55 - Company Release
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2005--Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:PEI) today announced revised redevelopment plans for the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey, and will rename the property Voorhees Town Center. Under the proposed plan the property will incorporate a portion of the existing mall, including Boscov's and Strawbridge's department stores, as well as approximately 200,000 square feet of new lifestyle retail space and approximately 450 new luxury mid-rise condominium and rental apartment units. The new site plan incorporates a wide, landscaped boulevard with ample parking that will provide direct access to shops and restaurants.
Joseph Coradino, President of PREIT Services, LLC said, "We are very excited about the new plans for Voorhees Town Center, which will serve as the shopping, entertainment and residential center for this vibrant, well-established community. The revised plan includes needed service and convenience retail stores and luxury condominium and rental apartments which have seen strong demand in this growing market."
The new plans require various approvals. Previous plans to add Wal-Mart to this center have been withdrawn. Further details about Voorhees Town Center, including tenancy, development details and costs, will be announced in the near future.
Links:
Echelon Mall official corporate web site
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Jennifer Weston’s Commentary:
User submitted Dec 2009I visited Echelon Mall (Voorhees, NJ) on 12/26/09. I can remember this mall from the early 70s through the early 90s. Seeing it like this was very sad. Actually, the surrounding area has changed a lot. In the early 70s, Voorhees was a combination of rural area and suburbia. United Engineering had a large office next to Camden County Library, one of the largest libraries in the area. Both are on Laurel Road, an access road that sits close to the mall. The YMCA was on Britton Place behind the library and UE. All are easy walking distance and the roads are local enough to make this relatively safe.
Through the 70s and 80s, more retail and condos were built both nearby and as additions to the mall. In the late 80s and 90s, the development accelerated. But instead of staying concentrated around the mall, which is where most of the development in previous decades had been, it sprawled. I don't know when United Engineering moved out, but their building is for lease now. The YMCA is also boarded up. It's more likely that the sprawling commercial development and the loss of a major provider of high-paying jobs contributed to this mall's demise than it's location. I-295 is only a few minutes away and White Horse Pike is even closer.
In an effort to revitalize the area, the movie theater, Exhilarama, and the half of the mall from center court to JC Pennys was demolished. That's the end where Sears had been tacked on. I think there may have been an unattached Firestone in a separate building on that end which is also gone. The area where the demolished mall had been is being converted to even more condos. There are now _a_lot_ of condos. Development on these looked like it was nearing completion.
It seems unlikely that adding even more housing to an area that already has a ton of condos is going to bring this mall back, though. When I visited, there was a noticable number of empty storefronts and some of the others were in the process of closing. Very sad considering I can remember the beautiful center court with it's fountain (now gone) and many of the additions over the years that made Echelon Mall a very special place.
Meghan McAnally’s Commentary:
User submitted Aug 2007It should be noted that the Echelon Mall is a block or three away from the Ashland stop of the Philadelphia to Camden County PATCO line. The PATCO lines runs between 16th St to Lindenwold NJ. Lindenwold is also a stop (at ground level) for the NJ Transit AC line train from Atlantic City to 30th St. Station.
I haven't thought about that Exhiliration place in years! Ah, laser tag. Good times. There was that cheap movie theater next to the food court at one point as well. Honestly, something like $2 to see month-old movies.
The only other insight I can give you is that there was once a wonderful hippie store on the second level to the left if you entered from the food court. It had the exoskeleton of a VW bus to the side of its entrance, filled with Grateful Dead bears for sale. I always wondered how the hell they managed to get that in the mall.
I just checked the mall's actual website. Wow. I moved away in 2002, and before then there were never more than 3 or 4 empty stores at a time. Every once in a while a food court place would move (Mr. Bulky- the candy store- used to take up the big property on the right from the food court entrance that later became a McDonald's- it moved a few down from the first right turn), the seasonal Halloween/Christmas/Summer store would change.
If you use any of this, please don't post my email address. Thank you.
Oh, and after the fire in the Moorestown mall (around Christmas?) where a lot of pet store animals had died, Echelon seemed to become more popular. Cherry Hill was to far of a drive for most harried mothers like my own :)
And I think they did tear down the movie theater that was connected to the mall- isn't it a parking lot now?
Jason Gildersleeve’s Commentary:
User submitted Feb 2007Just an hour ago, I was walking thru the remains of the Echelon Mall. The Sears store was fenced off, and partially demolished, and inside the mall, the area near the former Disney Store and Lane Bryant (near Macy's) was walled off. I took some pictures of the mall, being carefull not to attract the suspicion of the "Mall Security," but on my way out, "Poindexter" (the only non-obese Rent-A-Cop), asked me who I represent and what am I taking pictures of the mall for. He didn't ask for my phone (which the pictures were on), but that was because I could've easily fought him off if neccessary. Sorry, I did mention that I plan to send the pics to
deadmalls.com. Poindexter told me that I had no right to do so. Obviously, he's never heard of the First Ammendment. That, and he said he'll check the site out. Well, from the looks of him, all he can do to me is give me a paper cut from his Pokemon cards that he keeps in his mom's attic, so the first chance I get, I'mm gonna sit down, write down all the info I know about the mall, and share the pics with you guys. Somebody's gotta tell the story of the Echelon Mall, even if the overzealous "security" doesn't agree.