Hess's South, an early satellite location of the Hess's downtown Allentown department store, opened at the site of the mall in 1971.[2] Hess's built a modest enclosed mall on the north side of the department store in 1975, adding a Weis Markets location and several specialty shops.[2]
In 1979, Hess's, which developed and owned South Mall and operated its largest tenant, was bought by Crown American, a Johnstown-based commercial real estate company, and the transaction included South Mall.[3] Crown American doubled the size of South Mall in a 1986-1987 expansion that added a new section of enclosed mall on the southern side of Hess's South.[2] In November 1986, discount retailer Jamesway opened its 100th store at the South Mall to anchor the new expansion, and celebrated the milestone with skydivers landing in the South Mall parking lot.[4] In 1991, the mall expanded yet again, adding discount drugstore Phar-Mor as its third major anchor in the newer portion of the mall.[5]
In 1991, the older portion of the mall on the north side of Hess's was deactivated following closure of Rea & Derick, a drugstore that was acquired by CVS Pharmacy.[6]
In late 1995, Jamesway closed its South Mall location when the chain filed bankruptcy.[7] A year later, Stein Mart leased a majority of the space previously occupied by Jamesway. Stein Mart's South Mall location represented its first store in Pennsylvania.[7] The remainder of the former Jamesway was subdivided between Gold's Gym and Home & Gifts, before being replaced by Ross Stores in 2012.[8]
In 1996, five years after deactivating the north side of Hess's following the departure of Rea & Derick, the north side of the mall again opened, replaced by Staples Inc. and Petco.
In 2002, Phar-Mor closed its anchor store at South Mall as part of the chain's national acquisition by CVS.[10] This was replaced by Steve & Barry's, a retail clothing chain.
In 2008, Steve & Barry's, another South Mall tenant, declared bankruptcy and closed its South Mall and other locations.[12] The anchor space Steve & Barry's occupied at South Mall was leased the following year, in 2009, to Black Rose Antiques and Collectibles, an antique mini-mall with over 100 individual dealers.[13]
In June 2014, PREIT sold South Mall for $23.6 million to Nicholas Park Mall LLC, a company formed by seven New York area investors led by former Macy's executive Richard Krantz, after South Mall was deemed two years earlier to be one of over a dozen underperforming PREIT-owned malls.[14][15]
In 2016, Yocco's Hot Dogs, a regionally famous Emmaus-headquartered hot dog and cheesesteak restaurant chain with four Lehigh Valley locations, opened a restaurant in South Mall.[16][17]
In January 2017, Black Rose Antiques relocated its South Mall location to Phillipsburg Mall in nearby Phillipsburg, New Jersey.[18] In early 2017, the anchor space Black Rose Antiques previously occupied at South Mall was subdivided with Limerick Furniture occupying most of it.[19] The remainder of the space was revamped to accommodate Full Circle Training, a gymnasium that opened in early 2018.[20]
In 2018, The Bon-Ton, which had acquired Hess's in the 1990s and represented the oldest and largest South Mall anchor, closed all of its national store locations, including its South Mall location.[21] In 2019, Limerick Furniture also closed, leaving South Mall with Stein Mart as its sole remaining major anchor tenant.[22]
Throughout the early 2020s, South Mall has sponsored and hosted community events, including periodic flea markets and weekly summer food truck events. Nontraditional tenants, such as Cave Brewing Co., a full-service craft beer bar with live entertainment, and South Mall Mercantile antiques dealer, have been brought in to fill the voids left by tenants that have departed. However, both of these have since closed.
In 2020, the last anchor of South Mall, Stein Mart announced it would be closing all of its store locations including its South Mall location. On February 10, 2021, Amazon Lockers and Salisbury Youth Association opened South Mall stores, replacing the former Foot Locker that had departed. In April 2021, the franchised T-Mobile store near the mall entrance closed permanently. The corporate-owned store across from it (which was a Sprint store until its merger with T-Mobile in 2020) and Metro by T-Mobile store, however, remain open. Another store, called Uniquely Lo. Co., has opened a South Mall store. In May 2021, Claire’s closed its South Mall location. Spirit Halloween began occupying the former Stein Mart location in 2022.
On November 14, 2023, the Giant Company revealed that in 2025, the Bon-Ton store would be demolished and the Giant food store on W. Emaus Ave. would move into a new 68,000-square-foot location on the former Bon-Ton space.[23] In November 2024, Burlington agreed to lease 19,972 square feet of the Spirit Halloween building, which will be subdivided for other tenants, starting in late summer 2025.[24]
