Although I had vague memories of going to The Neshaminy Mall as a kid, as years went on, it proved to have a profound impact on my life through the decades.
Strawbridge & Clothier and Sears were the original anchors when The Mall opened in 1968. The 1975 expansion added Lit Brothers as an anchor. All of which were major retailers in their day.
The two-story Woolworth’s was one of the faint memories I had at Neshaminy Mall. At the front of the store, to the right, was a built-in hot dog stand. I remember my parents parking my coach right in front while we ordered some mid-mall snacks. Of course, that was YEARS before the food court was built. I always loved riding the escalator to the second floor of Woolworth’s.
There was a kid’s clothing store down by Strawbridge & Clothier that had this purple fuzzy slide. I would always bug my mother to take me in for a few slides.
My favorite part of The Mall was the historic dioramas. Being the proud Philadelphian that I am, our rich history was on display on the outside wall. A series of seven dioramas that told the story of Philadelphia. Each one sitting behind glass with a plaque telling the story in each scene. What made them mesmerizing, was that they were animatronic. My father never failed to bring me over to see them as I watched them move in amazement. In, 2020, four of the seven dioramas were removed with the intention of restoring them and putting them into storage. At the time I am wringing this, The Signing of The Declaration diorama has been restored and is currently on display at the Bensalem Township Municipal Building.
As part of the history of the region, the Native American tribe known as the Lenni Lenape had a very dominant presence in this land. They named the nearby creek “Neshaminy” which means "place where we drink twice". Not only did they name The Mall after the creek, they also paid tribute to the Lenni Lenape heritage in two specific ways.
Donated by Strawbridge & Clothier in 1970, a large fountain was made to resemble the Neshaminy Creek. At the top of the fountain is a squatting Lenni Lenape man with water flowing from his cupped hand. This could be taken many ways. Is he testing the water? Is he showing us the water from the Neshaminy Creek? Perhaps he is drinking from it as the namesake suggests. Either way, this fountain provided a nice ambiance and a place for shoppers to rest their weary feet.
Each time we visited the mall, we would stop at the fountain as Dad would dig through his pockets to give my sister and I coins to toss into the fountain and make a wish. The fountain is still there. However, the water has been drained and filled in with mulch. Future generations will only see this as a statue. They will never see the full beauty in it without the running water. Millions of wishes will not be wished on upon the rocks.
Another tribute to the Lenni Lenape was on a much grander scale. Sitting way back in the parking lot, high above the nearby highway, stood a Native American Totem Pole. Whenever you were going to The Mall, you knew you were close once you saw that Totem Pole. First erected in 1973, the Neshaminy Totem Pole was a landmark that served as a beacon for shoppers from miles around. In 1995, the Totem Pole was replaced with a tower topped with neon. That was a sign and a symbol that things would never be the same.
Strawbridge & Clothier was founded here in Philadelphia and therefore had a huge presence in the area. By huge, I mean that each store was a big masterpiece of style at the time of opening. Here at Neshaminy Mall, Strawbridge & Clothier stood proudly behind the fountain that it donated during The Mall’s opening. The main staircase, which had a skylight with a huge chandelier, led patrons through three stories of department store shopping, accompanied by a diner and a restaurant where people could sit on the balcony overlooking the beautiful fountain. I don’t ever remember the restaurant being open in my era, but I always wondered about it. While working there in the late 1990's, I also discovered a long hidden barber shop. The restaurant, the diner and the barber shop were all being used for storage at the time.
When I was a kid, the movie theater was very tiny. It was a store front that was down a corridor across from the old arcade. That corridor was torn down to be replaced by a much larger corridor with a a 24-screen multi-plex in 1998. The arcade was moved into the new wing as well as a restaurant and kids play area.
The original arcade was called Space Port and had a futuristic theme to it, complete with long oval windows. By the look of it, someone transported it from the Death Star and painted everything blue so Stormtroopers wouldn’t get suspicious. That arcade always looked like the coolest place to be in The Mall.
Speaking of Star Wars, I was working for Strawbridge’s when the first new Star Wars movie in 16 years was released. “The Phantom Menace”. Knowing what a phenomenon this would be, I had to see it happening in person. I went down on my lunch break on May 19, 1999. I found MASSES of people, dressed in various Star Wars costumes, all waiting to be part of this historic event. They didn’t know the disappointment they were in for. I am not going to lie, if I didn’t have to work that day, I would have been dressed up too.
While I was working at The Mall, I went on my last first-date. My now wife, Kelly, and I went to Manny Brown’s Bar and Grill for dinner. Nervous about the date but comfortable with who I was, I ordered a steak while Kelly ordered chicken fingers. It took forever to get our check. When we finally got it, we were running late for the movie tickets I bought in advance. The movie was Borat and when we finally got into the theater, it was PACKED. The only two seats available were in the very front row. Imagine my EMBARRASMENT when the scene came on of two naked men wrestling and chasing each other through a hotel! There we were font and center in the first row.
In later years the pets store was torn down to build a Barnes & Noble. The major book store pumped new life into The Mall. Sadly, it was not enough to save the Sears anchor store. Sears and Strawbridge’s remain closed leaving the two anchors to be the movie theater and the old Lit Brothers which is now a Boscov's, with Barnes & Noble being a junior anchor.
We still walk The Mall but these days, it's just not the same. The Mall that once thrived with stores, is now deserted and we are just left with memories. The stores that ARE open, are aimed at the younger demographic. The Mall may have changed over the years and is not what it was at its peak, but the memories will never fade away.
