Anchor Losses and Leasing Gaps
When Sears shut down, the lights were still on. Its sign stayed up for weeks after the store emptied—just a glowing shell hanging over a locked entrance.
In November 2017, Sears Holdings listed the Indiana Mall location among 63 stores it was closing. By January 2018, it was gone.
It wasn’t the first anchor to leave. Three months earlier, Kmart closed as part of a separate cut of 72 stores across the country.
That one had been around longer. In 1992, the store had expanded, taking up more space than any other tenant.
By October 2017, it was stripped of shelves and covered in brown paper. Shoppers could still see outlines on the floor where displays used to be.
The Bon-Ton held out a little longer. The company filed for bankruptcy in early 2018 and announced in April that every store, including Indiana’s, would be liquidated.
Workers started marking everything down. By summer, it was gone, too.
These weren’t small losses. Kmart, Sears, and The Bon-Ton were three of the mall’s five main anchors, each with its own wing.
Each closure opened a wide, empty hallway lined with locked storefronts. People stopped coming in from those entrances, and traffic thinned out.
Turnaround Leases and Fresh Occupancy
By early 2019, Indiana Mall looked hollow from certain angles. Whole stretches had no foot traffic. But behind the scenes, a few deals were moving.
One of them—Kohl’s—took over the old Sears space that spring. It wasn’t a renovation so much as a takeover.
They left the footprint, reworked the inside, and put up fresh signage.
Later that year, mall management confirmed Dunham’s Sports would replace The Bon-Ton.
That one took longer. The old Bon-Ton space needed more work, and zoning had to be cleared. Dunham’s didn’t open until sometime after Zamias handed the mall over to the bank in December 2020.
Even then, it wasn’t clear who would step in next.
Ownership transferred quietly. The mall had been under Zamias since it opened in 1979. They gave it up at the end of 2020 but stayed on as property managers.
In April 2022, the Kohan Retail Investment Group bought the mall for $6.9 million.
The sale was public but low-profile. Kohan had a reputation for buying distressed malls across the country, sometimes flipping them and sometimes letting them run on low maintenance.
Current Leasing Mix and In-Mall Retail
Go Bonkerz sits near Dunham’s Sports now—an indoor skating rink with loud music and wall-length murals.
Sobek Fitness shares a hallway with a few local services. These aren’t big brands, and most don’t have national backing.
JCPenney, Kohl’s, and Dunham’s still anchor the property. Across the corridor, Harbor Freight Tools handles steady foot traffic, especially on weekends.
On the other hand, MovieScoop Cinemas runs early matinees, often with more staff than guests. Still, it’s open seven days a week.
The rest of the mall reads like a mixed-use directory. Near the central circle, Claire’s sells earrings and piercings.
One of the longest-running stores left is Luxenberg’s. The jewelry shop has held its space through anchor closures, ownership changes, and long stretches of low traffic.
Its displays still sit under glass, lit and orderly, even when the corridor around it stays quiet.
A few stores down, GNC Live Well, offers supplements. Kay Jewelers has a slim corner with displays of engagement rings under bright glass.
There’s a PA Driver’s Testing Center near the central hallway. Auntie Anne’s still gives off that cinnamon smell by midday.
There are also services, such as ATA Martial Arts, URGI Hair Salon, the Indiana County Tourist Bureau, and a local bus stop for INDIGO Transit.
Some are only open on certain days, and others run full-time but cut back on staff.
In 2023, a new women’s clothing store, Daily Thread, moved into the space that had been empty for almost two years.
It wasn’t a huge opening, but it mattered—retailers still considered the mall a viable option for regional placement.
That store is no longer there. The signage came down quietly, and the unit sat empty again.
Ongoing Deals, Delays, and Ownership Play
As of early 2025, Summit Properties USA is listed as an owner of Indiana Mall, but the exact date of acquisition hasn’t been disclosed.
The mall’s official site reflects the new ownership, and Summit includes the property in its portfolio, noting 506,688 square feet of leased space on a 44.84-acre site.
Prior to this, Kohan Retail Investment Group had held the mall since April 2022, following a $6.9 million purchase.
The transition appears to have happened quietly, without local coverage or visible operational shifts.
A framed photo from 1979 resurfaced online last fall.
Boxy and brown cars lined up outside Indiana Mall, parked under crisp lettering that read “Kmart” and “Sears.” On October 1, 2024, the mall marked its 45th anniversary with a quiet social media post.
Weeks earlier, in late September, folding tables filled the central hallway.
The Salvation Army hosted a Craft and Vendor Bazaar, using mall space to bring in local sellers of handmade jewelry, candles, and baked goods.
It wasn’t packed, but it was steady. Vendors brought their signage. The organization used the event to raise funds and pull in shoppers who hadn’t passed through in months.
Events like that have become more common. Mall management rotates them, some with local groups and others tied to regional promotions.
They draw modest crowds and help fill the calendar.
Longtime tenants sometimes participate, and newer ones use the events to get noticed.
For a few days, closed storefronts look less empty, and foot traffic picks up near the center.
Then it clears out again—folding tables gone, hallway quiet.
Rural King Plans Move Into Former Kmart Space
There’s still no sign above the door, but the plan is official. In February 2025, White Township’s planning commission gave Rural King the green light to move into the old Kmart spot at Indiana Mall.
The layout was approved in full: 900 square feet for an outdoor vestibule, an enclosed propane station, and a main entrance facing Oakland Avenue.
No public objections were filed.
The space has been empty since October 2017, when Kmart shut down during a round of closures by Sears Holdings.
For more than seven years, the anchor wing was sealed off—lights off, windows covered, and the entrance locked from inside.
Now, it’s getting cleared for farm tools, pet food, and shelves of boots.
Rural King doesn’t build from scratch when it doesn’t have to. Most of its 130-plus stores operate out of reworked big-box buildings, often old Kmarts or Walmarts.
The Indiana Mall location fits the pattern—it has a low cost of entry, plenty of square footage, and good road access.
Hiring has already started. Job listings for cashiers, department leads, and warehouse help in Indiana, PA, began appearing online in March 2025.
Most don’t mention start dates, but they reference the mall location specifically.
It’s the first solid sign that the project is moving.
Inside the mall, tenants are watching. A new anchor could bring traffic back to the west wing.
So far, there’s no posted timeline and no opening date. But the paperwork’s in, the brand is confirmed, and after seven years of nothing, there’s movement.
