Granite Run Mall and the quarry it tamed
The land off West Baltimore Pike was first a granite quarry, then just an empty-looking piece of ground with a history you could still sense if you knew where to look.
In the early 1970s, The Goodman Company took that spot at 1067 West Baltimore Pike in Middletown Township near Media and decided it could be used for something new.
The idea was simple: build a large indoor mall for the western suburbs of Philadelphia, a place that could attract shoppers from far away.
Granite Run Mall opened in August 1974 as a two-story, very big shopping center, the kind of place where people could spend hours.
The layout made it easy to walk around. Two floors of stores were connected by moving stairs and elevators, and the design allowed you to get around without getting worn out.
In the middle was a big fountain in the main area, meant to make the building feel less plain and more like a gathering place.
Even the name was direct. "Granite Run" pointed back to what the land had been before the stores, a reminder that this bright, air-conditioned place was built on ground that had already been used a lot.
Sears, Gimbels, and a fountain's promise
Granite Run always seemed large because the main stores were large. Sears was there. Gimbels was there. Just having those two stores made people feel like they could spend the whole day there.
When JCPenney opened in January 1976, it made the mall the clear first choice for the area, the place you went when you did not want to spend time deciding where else to go.
Inside, the building worked just as planned. The different floors kept you walking around without feeling tired. You went up an escalator, wandered, came down another one, and somehow ended up back where you started.
With a stroller, a wheelchair, or too many bags, you took the elevator, and with air-conditioning, you forgot whether it was snowing or sweltering out there today.
The middle of the mall had a big fountain, which gave the place a center. People met there, sat nearby, and used it to help find stores they could not describe.
At its busiest, there were about 125 stores, so the mall stayed crowded just because there were so many.
Later, when the mall started to lose stores, the fountain kept running anyway. It was one of the last things that still made it feel like the old Granite Run.
Arcade lights and the AMC Granite Run 8
Granite Run really became memorable once it gave people more reasons to stay after shopping. The main reason was the movie theater.
On December 12, 1986, AMC Granite Run 8 opened in its own building at the edge of the property.
It was not connected to the mall, but it felt like it was part of it. You could park once, get something to eat, look around, then head over for a movie.
With eight screens, you could show up without knowing what you wanted to see and still find a seat.
Aladdin's Castle was where the mall got loudest, a noisy pocket near McDonald's and close to the Sears entrance.
The arcade radiated 1990s mall excitement: game machines bright enough to pull your eyes, sounds stacking and mixing, kids feeding quarters and timing themselves, trying to make one game last.
Just beyond it, Showcase Comics made the area feel calmer and more narrowly focused.
Outside the main mall, restaurants were part of the usual routine.
Chi-Chi's was the choice for large, sit-down dinners, at least until it got knocked down to build apartments, and the Winky's nearby was for quick, weekday meals that helped make the mall a steady part of life.
Stern's interlude, then Boscov's arrives
Granite Run's main stores didn't budge to satisfy some new preferences in Middletown Township.
They turned over the customary way, quietly and almost privately, for reasons that had nothing to do with the people shopping there.
After Allied Stores bought the Gimbels stores, Granite Run's Gimbels became a Stern's in 1986. Same building, new name slapped on it.
People still showed up, weekends still packed the place, but the switch was a telltale sign - big department stores were beginning to have trouble.
Then Stern's closed in 1989, and suddenly the mall had a big empty space at one end. An empty regular store is annoying.
An empty main store is a problem you notice. The space stayed empty for years, and the mall felt the loss every day.
Boscov's finally moved in and opened in 1993. It wasn't a dramatic rescue. It was the kind of rescue where people just come in every day and open the store.
Run out of Reading by one family, Boscov's brought continuity to the floor, a familiar feeling untouched by big changes each year.
That reliability is why it matters now. When the interior mall closed, and redevelopment began, Boscov's and Sears stayed open.
After Sears closed in August 2021, Boscov's became the only original anchor still operating in the current Promenade years.
The $150 million era and crowded corridors
In 1998, Granite Run was bought by Simon Property Group and the Macerich Company for about $150 million, and Simon was in charge.
At the time, that price meant the mall still seemed like a good investment. Large indoor malls were still seen as safe bets.
The mall kept itself going on what people already believed about it. Shoppers were accustomed to coming.
It was convenient to get to, particularly when the weather turned, and there were still enough stores to make the place feel alive.
Then the 2000s came, and the mall started to empty out. More stores closed. Online shopping took away a lot of the people who used to just walk around and look at things.
Newer and bigger malls also drew people away, like the bigger King of Prussia.
By the late 2000s, Granite Run was still open, but it was not doing well. Stores opened and closed more quickly.
Empty spots stayed empty for a long time. The mall tried to seem normal, but it did not feel like the same place anymore.
Default, management triage, and a $24M sale
By February 2011, the mall's problems had a clear number. Simon and Macerich missed payments on a $115 million loan for over thirty days, and the owners eventually gave up the property to the lender.
Madison Marquette took over running the mall, trying simple fixes like better lighting, fixing the parking lot, and repairing sidewalks.
Still, more and more stores closed.
In September 2013, the property was sold to BET Investments for $24 million. BET purchase marked the end of Granite Run as an indoor mall.
Plans changed several times: keep the main stores, tear down the inside, and build outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment areas.
The housing part changed too, with early ideas for two apartment buildings with about 365 units, later going up to 388 units.
In 2014, there were ideas to turn the top floor of the old JCPenney into a movie theater, add fancier places, and build separate restaurants.
By January 2015, the plan had changed again to tearing down JCPenney and building new stores and a theater.
The dead-mall hush and demolition's clean bite
Between 2013 and 2015, Granite Run entered its ghost phase. The corridors stayed open, but the mall had the quiet of a building waiting for its next life.
Video documentation from that era shows dead plants and bright, mismatched coverings taped over vacant storefronts, as if color could distract from absence.
The inline stores dwindled. The anchors - Sears, Boscov's, and JCPenney - became the primary draw, which is another way of saying they became the last plausible reason to walk inside.
In April 2015, JCPenney shuttered soon after its closure announcement. The interior officially closed on July 1, 2015.
On November 9, 2015, Middletown Township approved final plans for the redevelopment, now named the Promenade at Granite Run.
Demolition began in 2016. The central portion of the mall and the former JCPenney were razed, while Sears and Boscov's remained standing and operating, protected by ownership and leases.
The afterlife had footnotes.
Gnarkill made the place into an affectionate artifact with the 2006 track "Granite Run Mall in the 80s!" Later, the site was briefly considered for Kevin Smith's proposed "Mallrats" sequel, "MallBrats," before the timetable pushed filming elsewhere, and the project was cancelled in February 2017.
Sears, announced on June 16, 2021, closed on August 15, 2021.
Promenade present and the next set of tenants
The Promenade at Granite Run opened in 2018, replacing enclosed certainty with an open-air mixed-use center and a new kind of main attraction: housing.
"50 at Granite Run" opened around 2018 and 2019 with 192 luxury apartment units and amenities like a pool, a fitness center, and pet washing stations.
The retail mix is a tighter version of the old anchor logic, with about 45-plus shops and eateries.
Boscov's remains the lone continuous survivor, surrounded by Acme Markets, Kohl's, TJ Maxx, Michaels, At Home, and Edge Fitness, plus Panera Bread, Chipotle, Turning Point, and Rayaki Ramen.
The old AMC closed on March 16, 2020, during the COVID-19 shutdowns and was demolished in 2021; the proposed "Cinebowl" concept never appeared as an operating theater.
Eleven33 is the second apartment project at the Promenade at Granite Run, built from the ground up on the spot where the old movie theater and nearby shops used to be.
This is the same area that once hosted movie nights and quick snack runs. The plan called for a four-story building with 208 one- and two-bedroom apartments, along with a five-story parking garage.
This setup tries to offer a "Main Street style" feel, but you still need to drive to get here. By March 2022, you could already see work starting, with demolition and digging turning plans into real progress.
Now, Eleven33 is open for leasing at 1133 W Baltimore Pike and is being advertised as a brand-new building.
By September 2025, Eleven33's ground floor was announced as the new home for wellness businesses like HiLo House and SweatHouz.
Wonder opened a food hall on December 18, 2025. IKEA announced in October 2025, an "IKEA Media Plan and order point with Pick-up" at 1111 W. Baltimore Pike, Suite K, expected to open in spring 2026.
Penncrest High School students still cross Middletown Road to eat, meet up, and kill time, just outdoors now.
