An extant asset
I like it when localities have their own style of shopping mall development. In Seattle, you have the Allied malls with their distinctive Bon Marché stores. In the twin Cities, you have the Dale malls of Dayton’s department store. Even in Omaha they have their “Roads” malls. And in Pittsburgh, the Oxford malls have their own unique sense of style.
1 to 4- The double tiered southwestern entrance to South Hills Village and the rear façade of Macy’s. 5- Macy’s, formerly Horne’s, from the South. 6- The old forgotten stone plaza outside of Macy’s. 7 & 8- Macy’s front facing entrance next to the southeastern mall entrance.
On my recent trip to Pittsburgh, it was easy to notice the similarities between South Hills Mall and Monroeville Mall, both conceived in the sixties by Oxford Development Company. They both feature large square courts abutting their bookending anchors, unique bi-level mall entrances and opened as straight line, double tiered barbells with an additional anchor at center court.
South Hills Village Mallmanac ca. 1965. View the full PDF version here.
Though in the present both malls are overall much different from their original designs, these elements are carried on in both shopping centers to this day. Though I will have to admit that I don’t know much about exactly how South Hills Village looks in its younger days due to not being featured in a ground-breaking seventies horror masterpiece.
1 to 3- The east facing front façade of South Hills Village. 4 & 5- The main mall entrance leading to the food court and the facility’s only expansion. 6- Barnes & Noble’s location unattached to the rest of the building. 7- the northeastern mall entrance abutting Dick’s Sporting Goods, originally Gimbels. 8- Dick’s occupies the upper two levels of the anchor spot while Target occupies the bottom.
I walked to South Hills Village on a crisp and cold Sunday morning from the South Hills Village trolley station. Macy’s with its white washed pristine brick walls interrupted by parallel vertical concrete formations painted in the same shade was first to greet me.
1- The northeastern mall entrance. 2 to 4- The rear facing northwestern mall entrance only opens to the upper level as well as an exterior view of South Hills Village’s common area. 5 to 7- Von Maur’s newly built store on the footprint of the former Sears. 8- The two level southwestern entrance contains the only egress to the mall’s lower level.
Immediately to the east of the store was the distinctive, double level entranceway reminiscent of the ones featured prominently in Monroeville Mall’s most famous starring role. Just inside, Macy’s mall entrance was surrounded by original brickwork, still looking dashing in its unblemished earth tone suit.
South Hills Village lease plan ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.
Overall, South Hills Village seems to have been updated quite a bit more than its Oxford developed peer, but there were still some vintage design elements apparent in places. Most notable were the seating area on the east facing Macy’s upper level exterior and the burnt amber brick topped by stained concrete running across the roofline of the common areas.
1- Just inside South Hill Village’s only lower level entryway. 2- Macy’s lower level mall entrance. 3- The bottom floor of the mall’s south end. 4- The corridor leading to the upper portion of the double tiered southwestern mall entrance. 5 to 7- The court area in front of Macy’s. 8 to 10- Shots of the southern half of the main concourse.
South Hills Village opened in 1965 in the far southern reaches of greater Pittsburgh. The first fully enclosed shopping center to be built in the region, at one million square feet it was also the largest shopping center in the metro until its Oxford peer debuted in nearby Monroeville at the end of the same decade.
The original anchors were Horne’s on the south end, New York based Gimbels on the north and Sears in the middle. Boasting over 100 stores, it was an absolute monster compared to other first generation indoor shopping facilities.
Center court and Von Maur’s mall entrances.
As the decades passed, Horne’s department store changed its nameplate to that of Columbus, Ohio based Lazarus upon their takeover by Federated Department Stores in in 1994. Less than a decade later, the Lazarus chain was overtaken by Macy’s, which took over the store after a short time as Lazarus-Macy’s.
South Hills Village Mallmanac ca. 2018. View the full PDF version here.
The center court anchor position was occupied by Sears for over fifty years until shuttering their outlet in 2018. In 2024, their old building was largely demolished for the entrance of luxury retailer Von Maur into both greater Pittsburgh and the state.
The narrow corridor leading to South Hill Village’s only expansion which contains the food court.
The triple tiered north anchor spot, after having been vacated by original tenant Gimbels was taken over by Kauffman’s then Boscov’s before their shuttering left South Hills Village with a glut of unoccupied square footage. Then, in the early 2010s, Target took over the bottom level while Dick’s sporting Goods now calls the top two levels home.
1 to 6- The northern half of the South Hills Village main corridor. 7 & 8- The court located in front of the northern anchor split between Dick’s Sporting Goods on top with Target on the bottom.
Simon Property Group, which took ownership of South Hills Village in 1997, embarked on a major renovation and expansion in 2014. Just two years later in 2016, the then 51 year old retail destination debuted a new food court as well as a full interior refurbishment.
South Hills Village Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.
Present day anchors Dick’s Sporting Goods, Macy’s, Target and Von Maur share space in the complex with over 140 inline shops and junior anchors Barnes & Noble, Ulta Beauty, Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) as well as a ten screen AMC cineplex.
In and around South Hill Village’s northernmost portion.
I was glad to see a sixty year old retail destination enjoying much success even after all of these decades. And I hope that it continues to be a viable retail option and that the guys from Bentonville keeps their hands off of South Hills Village unlike its peer to the northeast.
