Launch of a Regional Retail Hub
Ohio Valley Mall opened on October 4, 1978, in Richland Township near Saint Clairsville, developed and owned by the Cafaro Company.
At launch, the anchor stores were Kaufmann's, Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, L.S. Good, and Sears, setting the retail mix for the new center.
The early layout concentrated a single level of shopping with department stores at the ends, while tenants filled space with apparel, books, jewelry, and dining.
The site entered Belmont County as an enclosed, one-story shopping mall built and managed by the Cafaro Company of Youngstown.
The anchors drew steady traffic into the concourse, and smaller leases rounded out apparel, home goods, entertainment media, gifts, and quick-service dining.
Early marketing focused on convenience under one roof and a broad selection of national chains.
Storefronts opened in phases through late 1978 as buildouts finished and merchandising was set.
By the first holiday season, the center functioned as a regional retail stop for Saint Clairsville and nearby towns, and locals began to treat it as one of the things to do in Saint Clairsville, Ohio, on weekends and after work.
Anchor Turnover and Retail Shifts, 1982–1999
Ohio Valley Mall lost its first anchor just four years in.
L.S. Good closed in March 1982, its sign taken down before the summer. By July, Stone & Thomas had moved into the same spot.
A year later, Montgomery Ward pulled out, shutting its doors in April 1983.
That fall, Kmart arrived with a different pitch, discount aisles and bulk goods replacing Ward's catalog counters.
By the mid-1990s, the shuffle hadn't slowed.
Stone & Thomas expanded into a larger box in 1996, leaving its first location to Burlington Coat Factory, which opened there the following year.
In 1998, Stone & Thomas itself was converted into Elder-Beerman, giving Ohio Valley Mall a new regional department store just as others were disappearing.
The smaller spaces saw as much change.
Ponderosa and York Steakhouse both closed during the late 1980s, their dining rooms turned over to new tenants like Payless ShoeSource.
Carmike Cinemas added a theater in 1987, drawing traffic that lingered past retail hours.
By the end of the decade, the anchor lineup looked little like it had at opening.
Elder-Beerman and Burlington had become the new cornerstones, reshaping how shoppers moved through the concourse.
Closures and New Concepts, 2000–2009
The early 2000s introduced another round of turnover.
Burlington Coat Factory left in 2000, and five years later, the space welcomed Steve & Barry's, a retailer known for low-cost apparel tied to university logos.
The chain closed in November 2008 after bankruptcy, leaving Ohio Valley Mall once again searching for tenants.
Meanwhile, Kaufmann's made a change of its own: in September 2006, the store transitioned into Macy's as part of a company-wide rebranding.
JCPenney vacated in 2007, moving to Triadelphia, West Virginia.
Its departure left a hole until Levin Furniture took the spot in 2009, focusing on living room, dining, and bedding sales.
Crafts 2000 filled the former Steve & Barry's space later in 2009, bringing craft supplies and seasonal décor into the Ohio Valley Mall.
Alongside these larger shifts, national chains like Waldenbooks and RadioShack kept drawing in steady traffic with books, electronics, and music until broader industry changes began to catch up with them.
The decade marked a period of reshaping, with anchors replaced and specialty tenants stepping in to hold the floor.
Reinvestment and Renovation, 2010–2016
Levin Furniture, which had filled the old JCPenney space in 2009, closed that same year, leaving another large vacancy.
By 2012, the Cafaro Company was ready to change the look of the concourse. Renovation plans called for a refreshed interior and a new anchor tenant.
Within months, it was announced that Boscov's would open in October 2013, bringing a department store with broad reach in apparel, home goods, and seasonal sales.
Other spaces shifted in the same period. Crafts 2000, once filled with aisles of fabric, paint, and frames, closed in July 2015.
The store returned under a new banner that September as Pat Catan's, continuing the craft and hobby focus while expanding assortments.
Ulta Beauty opened in 2015 as well, setting up bright displays of cosmetics and personal care in a mid-sized storefront near the center of the property.
Rural King opened at Ohio Valley Mall in October 2012, with a soft launch that week, followed by grand opening events from October 31 through November 3.
The store filled a large footprint, becoming one of the mall's anchor tenants in the outparcel.
More than a decade after opening, Rural King remains an active tenant in the mall, with a 2024 community recognition as a local farm supplies winner.
The overall tenant mix leaned on a blend of older national chains and specialty shops tied to everyday needs.
Cafaro's renovation effort added fresher lighting, new floor finishes, and updated signage.
Ohio Valley Mall kept its anchors in play but also invested in drawing traffic with categories that had steady customer pull: crafts, home furnishings, and beauty products.
Hotels, Demolition, and New Anchors, 2017–2021
In early 2017, two longtime anchors announced closures within weeks of each other.
Elder-Beerman closed in March, and Kmart followed the same month. By April, the empty Elder-Beerman box was subdivided and renovated.
Marshalls opened in September 2017, bringing discount fashion and housewares to a reconfigured floor plan.
The space once occupied by Pat Catan's also went through a transition.
Michaels announced in early 2019 that it would take over, and by August of that year, the store was open, filling the shelves with art supplies and framing services.
Around the same time, Cafaro confirmed that part of the old Kmart space would be reused for Dunham's Sports.
The sporting goods retailer opened in October 2019, while the other portion of the building was demolished.
That demolition cleared ground for a Hampton Inn & Suites, which opened in April 2021 with more than 100 guest rooms.
Sears announced in April 2019 that it would close by July.
These changes left Ohio Valley Mall with new anchors, a hotel on its property, and another vacancy waiting to be filled.
Vacancies, Pop-Ups, and Temporary Uses, 2020–2024
Macy's closed in March 2020 as part of a national downsizing plan, leaving another anchor space dark.
That same year, Five Below opened in June beside Dunham's Sports, drawing in younger shoppers with low-priced games, electronics, and décor.
The large box left by Sears found makeshift tenants.
Spirit Halloween set up inside from 2019 through 2024, filling the aisles with costumes each fall, while Hickory Farms moved in during the 2021 holiday season with displays of packaged food and gift baskets.
From February to May 2021, the same vacant Sears unit was used for a vaccination clinic, its broad floor plan converted into check-in tables and waiting areas.
The repurposing showed how quickly Ohio Valley Mall could shift to community use when needed.
Seasonal programs kept the corridors active. Go!
Calendars, Games & Toys opened during multiple holiday periods, including 2024–2025, and The Salvation Army brought its Giving Tree and gift wrapping station every December.
By late 2024, Cafaro Company prepared to redevelop the Sears anchor. In November, workers walled off the mall entrance, and remodeling began.
A separate push that fall brought Holey Rollers Donuts, a local startup, into Center Court for a six-month pop-up.
The free-rent lease ran from November 20, 2024, through May 20, 2025, and was awarded after the business won Cafaro's Small Shop Showdown contest.
New Tenants and Redevelopment Plans, 2025
Talks over the former Sears space stretched into 2025.
Cafaro's decision to divide the box into smaller pieces indicated that the company no longer expected a single department store to fill the gap.
Entertainment was part of that mix.
In April, Golden Ticket Cinemas said it would reopen the shuttered AMC site with recliner seating, upgraded projection and sound, and food service to the seats.
Day-to-day promotions carried on as well.
For Ohio's Tax-Free Holiday in July, Ohio Valley Mall advertised a $25 gift card for shoppers who spent $250 or more between August 1 and August 14, tying it to the back-to-school rush.
Not all the news was forward-looking, though.
Sam Goody, one of the mall's longest-running tenants, confirmed its closure early in the year, leaving behind one of the chain's last two U.S. locations.
By the end of summer, the property stood between those two realities: fresh leases and construction on one side, the loss of a familiar music store on the other.