Wal-Mart / Cinemark to Monroeville Mall? (Pittsburgh, Wall: purchases, movie theater, living)

[youngabe]

Wal-Mart, Cinemark said to be considering Monroeville Mall location - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Interesting article. I could see it happening. In my opinion, it's good news because the mall needs SOMETHING to breathe some new life into it.

[Kippy]

Adding a Walmart sounds like the kiss of death.

[neurodistortion]

This potential development could be part of a larger undertaking at Monroeville Mall. If done correctly, it could really revitalize the mall rather than hurt it. Lots of people go to the movies, shop at the mall and at Walmart, which are typically separate from each other and require driving from place to place. The combination of retailers at Monroeville would essentially make the mall into a one-stop location for everything you might possibly need, from clothes to groceries, movies, games and everything in between. It also depends on several factors, such as will Walmart have an entrance into the mall? Each floor of the former Boscov's is approximately 80,000 square feet, so Walmart would be taking over an entire level. When people hear Walmart, they may think it's the kiss of death, but in all honesty, 80,000 square feet is not very much when you consider that Monroeville Mall has nearly 1.5 million square feet of retail space. They also mention JCPenney as taking over part of the Boscov's location, which would be a good idea because it would allow it to have maximum exposure in the front of the mall. JCPenney could easily take over the upper two levels of that building, making it approximately 160,000 square feet. It's unlikely that they would keep their existing store open with such a move, however. That leaves the existing JCPenney building in question. Would they use that space to redevelop it into a movie theater? Consider the Pittsburgh Mills food court/theater combo. They could tear down the store and build a new two level addition on that spot to accomodate a new ice rink and additional retail space on the first floor, and a new food court on the second level offering diners a view of the skaters below. The Cinemark could then be built adjacent to the food court.

[raubre]

No to Wallyworld, yes to a movie theater.

[Herodotus]

A theatre will draw all types of knuckleheads to the mall.

[BrianTH]

We no longer shop in the Monroeville Mall (we do most shopping online, in fact). However, we do go to Monroeville occasionally for other stores, and we'd probably use both a Walmart (particularly for ship-to-store purchases) and a movie theater (assuming it had IMAX 3D).

So this little market study of one household suggests this wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Benzman66]

At 80K feet, the Wal Mart would NOT have a full line grocery department like the supercenters do, however, still have the essentials like bread, cereal, etc, like many of the smaller Wal Marts in the area.

[raubre]

I guess it would be handy for HBA stuff since Eckerd closed there.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

I still won't visit. Not when I can shoot down Route 28 NORTH and go to Pittsburgh Mills SUPER-Walmart.

[Copanut]

Monroeville will soon become the Night of the Living Dead.