Editor’s note: This is the first part of an ongoing series entitled “State of Retail in State College.” From struggling areas to the more bustling shopping centers, we’ll examine the main retail sections of State College, with an eye on openings, closings, and the attendant challenges of the retail business. Look for the column every other week, and keep us updated on what you want to see. As always, we appreciate your feedback.
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by Matthew Groves
Well before the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Best Buy, Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Wegmans dominated the North Atherton side of town, Hills Plaza was the place to shop in State College. Over the past decade, Hills Plaza has undergone many changes, with several stores closing and new ones hoping to make a lasting impression on the State College consumer.
A revolving door of stores
A few openings are breathing new life into the plaza, which is owned by Vita and Vita Realty Corporation, a privately owned real-estate investment company in Fairfield, N.J.
Philipsburg native Jim Bumbarger reopened the Quiznos on Dec. 6 after he and his wife bought the franchise. Meanwhile, Fairways and Greens Golf Shop is making a return after the former location at 1341 S. Atherton St. closed. The store will feature a golf simulator with 30 different courses to try out, and a “buy, sell and trade program” for used equipment.
Changes to the anchors of Hills Plaza took place in the late 1990s. Vita added a strip mall with more than 7,000 square feet in leasable space that currently houses Edward Jones and six other storefronts. It also brought on Weis Markets and Encore Books in an area adjacent to the original Hills Plaza stores. (Encore Books, one of the largest stores in the chain, was ultimately replaced by a local gym called Victory Sports Performance and Fitness.) That new area also included Radio Shack and The Girls Scouts until the former moved to another location and the latter left for more space.
Weis has been the biggest draw to the plaza since 2002, when Ames Department Stores closed in a corporation-wide bankruptcy. The Ames spot has remained vacant since, leaving Hills with a large—not to mention rather unattractive—empty space.
One potential tenant was K-Mart, which was lined up to build a Super K-Mart, according to the Vita group. But K-Mart fell victim to the same financial fate as Ames, which created a domino effect at Hills.
“K-Mart going bankrupt caused our supermarket (Jubilee) to go bankrupt because they were the national supplier for all K-Mart grocery stores across the nation,” Vita and Vita manager Tony Vita said.
Location and convenience
The bankruptcies occurred right after The Colonnade was built on North Atherton. Vita said the company had been in discussions with Wegmans, Target, and Dick’s before they ultimately set up shop on the other end of town. “When they make their commitments to the other end of town and our anchors go bankrupt, what are you going to put there? It becomes quite difficult,” Vita said.
A key obstacle to growth is a lack of easy access to Interstate 99 and U.S. Route 322. “We don’t have that highway exit on the south end of town, so we don’t pick up the Williamsport or Altoona traffic,” Vita said. “We cater to the south side of town, whereas prior to I-99 we served the whole town.”
An inability to offer customers one-stop shopping is another factor that has made “life very difficult for Hills Plaza,” says Edward Coulson, professor of economics at Penn State. On the north end of town you can buy cereal and sweaters in one swift visit; Hills Plaza can’t boast that kind of convenience.
Coulson says communities all across the country are struggling to keep shopping centers full. And some residents don’t expect the trend to let up. “I see less centers in the future,” says State College resident and RE/MAX realtor Marc McMaster. “Brick and mortar is dwindling because of online sales.”
How can shopping centers compete? The human touch, Coulson says, will trump durable goods. And personal service will never go out of style. “Whether that means Hills Plaza is going to survive,” he says, “is another question entirely.”
Looking ahead
When it comes to the future, Vita is optimistic, saying the company boasts a high renewal rate.
Ace Hardware provides one success story; it’s marking its first anniversary “with a good year,” said co-owner Grant Rosenberger. “There hasn’t been anything on our side of town in a very long time. We are certainly filling in a niche in that regard.”
Whether it’s bad luck or lousy timing, the company has not been able to find a marquee tenant. But, fortunately for Hills, there’s one advantage that will keep customers on the south side of town in their parking lots:
It simply takes longer to get to Wegmans.
