Old mall in Phillipsburg area
Prior to Warren Hospital being built, was there a small indoor mall located there?
I remember going to a mall in that area (not the Phillipsburg Mall) but one that I thought was accessed by making a right off Memorial Pkwy onto Roseberry St.
I'm not thinking about the Lehigh Valley Mall either...
This was many, many years ago... I think my oldest, now 17, had been a baby.
I tried google but no luck so far.
Hoping someone who has lived in the area for a long time might know what I'm talking about...
It also had a Channels. I can remember going there with my parents and buying paneling.
I know it wasn't Hillcrest which is right along Memorial Pkwy, this was a good couple of blocks down Roseberry... Indoors
At its height, Hillcrest Shopping Center had an Orr's Department Store, both A&P (later Superfresh) and Acme supermarkets, Channel Home Center, Thrift Drug, Radio Shack, Nicolosi's Pizza and the barber shop (still there), Phillipsburg National Bank, a Hallmark Store called "Thought of You", I believe, a Fashion Bug, a Blimpies and a few other small shops whose names escape me now.
The HSC has primarily been converted to medical offices, but a few stores remain. Big Lots is where the Superfresh used to be and Rite Aid occupies the old Thrift Drug space. A new Thai restaurant opened up recently and the bank is still a bank, but no longer PNB, obviously. I think it might be PNC, but I'm not 100% on that...
Hillcrest Plaza (as it's now known) is at the northeast corner of Memorial Parkway (US 22) and Roseberry Street. Warren Hospital is about a 1/2 mile to the north on Roseberry Street. The old Pburg Catholic high school is between HSC and the hospital.
HillCrest had a "Woolworth's" also. The old ones with the lunch counter. I used to love going in there when I was a child, around the early 80's.
Dec '13
Yes, they did. I forgot about Woolworths, to be honest. It was next to Fashion Bug, across from Thrift Drug in the "interior" portion of the mall.
Remember the offset concrete planters along that stretch? In high school, we used to race our cars through there late night. It was a pretty demanding slalom course, especially since we were rarely sober when we did it.
There was also a Thom McAn shoe store back in there. That's where I used to get my Land Rover square toe work boots. They were so much cooler than the lame round toe Timberlands, lol. I wish I could still get them, to be honest...
There was also a Mays clothes store for men and kids,and a kids shoe store Hillcrest bootery I think it was called ...use to go there quite a bit back in the day .
Loved Woolworths in Elizabeth, growing up. (late 60's,early 70's) They had the lunch counter. Grandpa used to take us on the weekends. Fun times.
Dec '13
I lived in Projects on Roseberry Street for 40 years. Now in my late 60s here in Hackettstown. There never was any shopping complexes other than the Hillcrest Plaza that I know of.
Dec '13
The only commercial properties on Roseberry south of 22 at that time were 7-11 and maybe the Roseberry Liquor Store. To the north, there wasn't anything but residential and medical office uses until you got to the Brass Rail at the corner of Belvidere Road. Sorry, you must be "misremembering" and I can't think of anything else in that corridor that you might be confusing it with. The nearest one that comes to mind is the 25th Street exit and the Palmer Park Mall in Pennsylvania.
Twilight Zone marathon...........................................................................................................
Before Channel Hardware it was a WT Grant store.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._T._Grant
The 2nd floor at Orr's had a nice (very dark) restaurant named THE WEB.
There also was a laundromat on the corner caddy-corner to A&P, next to Thrift Drugs.
Jan '14
I googled Palmer Park Mall and that might be the one I am remembering - but I really thought it was in Phillipsburg off Roseberry St :)
Thanks for helping me get my memories straight :)
Got a kick out of seeing the term "misremember," reminded me of Roger Clemens in front of congress responding to things Andy Pettitte said.
Went to P'burg Mall recently (the indoor one where you can take a walk on a bad weather day) and saw the Waldenbooks store wasn't there any more.
That was cause for some WALDENbooks PONDering.
The Palmer Park Mall is over the bridge in Wilson as mentioned previously. But I understand how people get confused about being in PA when they are in P'burg and being in NJ when they are in Easton or Wilson. That's what I find charming about the area. As for the Hillcrest Plaza, don't forget the Unemployment Office used to be there. Unfortunately, I had to make several trips there at times when I could not afford to shop in the Hillcrest stores!
Walden books has been gone for at least a decade. There was a Borders there later, but that closed 2 or 3 years ago as well.
I may have been at the Borders, thinking it was Walden books, that's what being old, senile, and preoccupied will do. LOL
Back in 2000 (the turn of the millennium) I said hi to Carly Simon at Borders in Whitehall, Pa. (don't think that one is around anymore, either) she was there for a book signing and was very personable and friendly, especially to parents who were there with little children.
I got a complete history of the Baltimore Orioles (marvelous book with lots of info, biographies, and pictures) at the Whitehall Borders, was surprised they carried it amid all the Penn State, Phillies, and Eagles stuff that dominated the shelves.
Does anyone have a picture of The Web restaurant. I was 6 or 7 when I use to go to Orr's and can remember thinking that I would eat there when I was a "grown-up".
I don't have a picture but I waitressed there as a teenager!! Loved Orr's!! Great junior department. It may not have survived all these years but if it came back now I bet it would do great! Orr's offered a different variety and brand names that you wouldn't find at stores like Kohl's or even BonTon.
We loved Orr's. There was an older woman, who might have had a stroke at one time worked in children's dept. She always knew us by name. She would put some of new arrivals in back room for us, remembered the girls sizes. They would deliver to you in a small van....What happened to Orr's that they closed all stores ?.... Cohen's in Washington as well...They offered wonderful service.
You know, everybody's memory here is accurate.
* There was a Channel lumber. There was a huge fire and it burned down.
* Nicolosi's pizza is still there and is still the best pizza I ever had.
* Woolworth's had a snack counter. You could get terrible hamburgers there. Also you could buy fish. And caps, like for cap guns.
* Acme and A&P were both there. A&P was yellow and mellow, and welcoming and Acme was warehouse-like.
* Thom McAn's was there as well.
* No one mentioned the barber shop. It had mirrors on both walls so it mirrored to infinity: infinite you, mirrored back and forth.
* And a Fashion Bug too; my least favorite place to go (I was a young boy. Woolworth was so much more interesting.)
* Orr's was a two-floor department store with a restaurant on the top floor which, when I was young, struck me as a little fancy because they had wooden salad bowls and used endive as garnish. Indeed it was dark, and may well have been called "The Web." There was an escalator...
* Thrift drug sold far more than drugs. I remember you could buy clocks there. I remember thinking it was strange that you could buy clocks at a drug store.
Warren Hospital was adjacent to it, and then next to Warren Hospital was PCHS. Across from Hillcrest to the west was Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, Burger King, and then Warren Lanes.
Across on the other side was (eventually) Wendy's, then a Bagelsmith.
I liked growing up there. I have fond memories.
Before Arthur treacher's it was stop and go 19 cent hambergers,also there was a store called lorrianes. Picked my girlfriend up there when she got off work.All remember a candy store.1969
Does anyone remember a place in the Hillcrest Mall in the mid to late 1970's called "piclalilly' or 'pickadilly' or something like that? All I remember is that they were somewhere near the Radio Shack and they sold Hot Dogs and there were like fake brass instruments on the walls like French horns, etc. Also there was a video store along that section with the saloon doors in the back with the adult films... can't remember the name of that place either!
The Piccadilly was a sandwich shop between the Acme and the Radio Shack. Didn't last more than a couple years, I don't think...
The video store's name escapes me... "Adventure Video", maybe?
My memories of Hillcrest Mall are from the mid 70's to late 80's, so I may be overlapping memories of stores from different time periods... I remember there was a Mary McIntosh dry cleaners, and a religious book store called Agape, which I think later became a comic book store (not sure what the name was)...
Orr's was great because the escalator went to the top floor but there was also a mezzanine that you could only access from the elevator.. as a kid I thought that was kind of magical like some floor between the floors kind of thing...
And don't get me started on Nicolosi's Pizza! In my opinion it changed for the worse after the old man passed away. I can still remember how it tasted back in the day, and still my gold standard for pizza to this day!
Other interesting Hillcrest Mall info -
I found the online obit for the original builder - Mr Edward B. Stokes:
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20160229_Edward_Brooke_Stokes__94__real_estate_developer.html
Also this unsolved case from 1973 - Pretty scary but I don't remember hearing about this as a kid:
http://articles.mcall.com/1992-05-10/news/2857783_1_o-connor-camper-mall-lot
Regards,
Dave
When I lived in Phillipsburg during the early 1970s it was inhabited by deeply ignorant people. Some of the people were total scum. I imagine it hasn't changed much. I'm glad to be gone from there.
I was one of the first employees of the Piccadilly Restaurant. I believe it opened in the summer of 1969 although I could be wrong. Menu included the Dilly Burger, Dilly Dog, Fish & Chips served in a cone shaped holder depicting the English flag to name a few items. The ice cream, Yuengling, was really good and came in 30 flavors. The owner, Dave M. who lived on College Hill in Easton, Pa. and was a Penn State grad, also opened restaurants in the Hackettstown, NJ Mall, Palmer Mall and an Ice Cream Parlor in the Westgate Mall, Bethlehem, Pa. Had a great time working there ($1.50 hr) and made a lot of friends I haven’t seen since. Those were the days!
Hillcrest Mall was called “going to town” when you lived in one of the small towns outside Pburg. Grants, Woolworth, Nicolosi’s pizza, Mall Barber Shop, Orr’s, Tom McCann shoes, there was a Buster Brown there when I was young, Gordon’s Jewelers, Things to Remember, newspaper/magazine store, Acme.
I do have a question though. Was there ever a restaurant in Orr’s in Phillipsburg because I don’t remember one.
Hillcrest Mall is in Lopatcong, not Phillipsburg. The restaurant in Orr's was called The Web and was located on the 2nd floor.
"Hillcrest Mall was called “going to town” when you lived in one of the small towns outside Pburg. Grants, Woolworth, Nicolosi’s pizza, Mall Barber Shop, Orr’s, Tom McCann shoes, there was a Buster Brown there when I was young, Gordon’s Jewelers, Things to Remember, newspaper/magazine store, Acme.
I do have a question though. Was there ever a restaurant in Orr’s in Phillipsburg because I don’t remember one."
We would go to Stop & Go across the street on Sunday evenings.
The Web restaurant was on a mezzanine level in Orr's which was just a smaller floor between the 1st and 3rd floors on the west end of the building. It had a hair salon on that level in the 70s. Most of the store was two stories with escalators in the middle. The manager in the 70s and 80s was a nasty lady named Geraldine.
The Piccadilly restaurant (between Radio Shack and the employment office) was replaced in the 80s with Charlia's Kitchen (not misspelled).
Source: I worked at Woolworth's and Radio Shack in the 70s and 80s.
Is that mall vacant now? If not, what stores went into it?
thank you.
What was the name of t he large department store on the left side? and wasn't there Sears on the right side?
A lot of it is St. Luke's medical office buildings now, but there's some retail left... Big Lots, Rite Aid, a Thai restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, Nicolosi's, the Mall Barber is still there, Enterprise rental cars
Have great memories of hillcrest mall in the 80s. Being from Washington, my mom would take us there or the old H’town mall often.
Nov '21
Nov '21
Thanks, bh. I forgot the end unit used to be Staples and Best Buy was to the right of that. The end unit is where Ross is going,
What stores are going into the P'burg Mall? or is it being torn down, and these new stores are separate?
I stumbled upon this chat while looking for more information about "The Girl on Ice" in the Hillcrest Shopping Center back in August of 1968. Does anyone remember this? I was a young teenager and my father took my sister and me to see her. I did find an article in The Easton Express newspaper, so I'll have to run to the library to check it out.
The restaurant in Orr's was called the WEB for Warren, Easton and Bethlehem. Grew up in Belvidere NJ and used to go to Hillcrest all the time as a kid. Grants, Woolworth, Thom McCann. Great memories.
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