This mall has really gone downhill lately! New Towne Mall - New Philadelphia, Ohio

Name: This mall has really gone downhill lately! New Towne Mall - New Philadelphia, Ohio
Uploaded: 2026-11-10T00:54:07.955Z
Duration: 12 min 38 s
Channel: lyd wetzel

lyd wetzel

107 followers

1 Video View·Nov 10, 2026 #mall #deadmall #retail

#mall #deadmall #retail #ohio #shopping #shop #store

I first did a video here in October 2024 and we came by the area again so it’s time for an update! Sadly the mall has gone downhill since. There were a lot more people there last time and more stores. The mall does retain decent anchors but not much going on inside. Sadly, they are Kohan owned.

1. Opening and Early Years (1988)
Bullet Development: The mall was built by the Glimcher Realty Trust and officially opened in October 1988. Spanning approximately 500,000 square feet with roughly 53 stores, it was designed with architecture and floor plans by the Cleveland-based firm Keeva Kekst Associates.
Bullet Original Anchors: At its grand opening, the property featured major retail names of the era, including JCPenney, Sears, Elder-Beerman, Hills, and Phar-Mor.
2. The Turn of the Century & Retail Shifts (1999–2008)
As the retail landscape changed in the late 1990s and 2000s, New Towne Mall saw several early tenant changes:
Bullet The Hills to Ames Transition: In 1999, Ames Department Stores purchased the Hills chain. However, Ames went out of business and filed for bankruptcy in 2002 (around the same time Phar-Mor also closed).
Bullet Redevelopment of Spaces:
Bullet The vacant former Ames/Hills space sat empty for a few years until Kohl's opened there in 2005.
Bullet The former Phar-Mor space cycled through a few tenants, briefly housing Goody's (2004–2007) and Steve & Barry’s (2007 until that chain's bankruptcy in 2008).
3. The 25th Anniversary and Anchor Shakeups (2013–2018)
Bullet Milestone & New Additions: In October 2013, the mall celebrated its 25th anniversary with sales and a public cake-cutting ceremony. Around this time, the layout was bolstered by the arrival of Marshalls and Jo-Ann Fabrics taking over portions of the old Phar-Mor/Steve & Barry's footprint.
Bullet The Loss of Legacy Anchors: The 2010s brought major blows to traditional mall anchors nationwide:
Bullet Sears closed its doors. Its space was subsequently redeveloped, welcoming Dick's Sporting Goods in 2016.
Bullet JCPenney closed in July 2017.
Bullet Elder-Beerman—which had been the mall's last remaining original anchor—closed in 2018 after its parent company, The Bon-Ton, filed for liquidation bankruptcy.
4. Recent Ownership and Adaptive Reuse (2020s–Present)
Bullet Ownership Changes: After being managed under portfolios like Washington Prime Group, the mall was acquired in March 2024 by the Kohan Retail Investment Group for $10 million.
Bullet New Life for Vacant Anchors: Facing declining occupancies common to secondary markets, the property has worked to backfill empty anchor real estate. Notably, Ashley Furniture opened a store occupying a major portion of the long-vacant former JCPenney space, helping pivot the property toward a mix of promotional retail, home goods, and sporting goods alongside anchors like Kohl's, Marshalls, and Dick's Sporting Goods.

Hey guys, I'm in New Philadelphia, Ohio at Newtown Mall. This place opened in 1987. The original anchors were Fam Fore Hills, JCPenney, Sears, and Elder-Beerman. Currently they have Dick's, Marshalls, Ashley Furniture, We're going to have to see. I actually was here almost two years ago, almost to the day. So today is October 26th, 2026. I was here on October 20th, 2024, and I did film this. If you guys somehow have been following me for all the way back then. Now since I'm here again, we're going to see what's going on. I considered this mall, this is a tough one. because it's not dead. I wouldn't call it dead. I would call it kind of struggling but really not going anywhere. Like you could tell this mall was trying to hang on. It's one of those small town places that you just could tell it's not going anywhere. Um but we're gonna see what uh what the current state is if that's still uh the case here. So yeah let's go walk around and see Let's go and see what we find. Same entrance too. Let's go and see what we find. Same entrance too. I remember that. I'm feeling a very classic feel to it, like, um, just like the fountain, the tile, just almost reminded me of my, my Parma Town Mall that I've brought up so many times, so many umpteen times. You guys are probably sick of hearing it. Does this work? No, it doesn't. All right. Oh, it's on my koan. Okay. They have Kohl's here. That's good. That Joanne has since closed. Route 250 Health and Performance. Stay tuned for something awesome. It being owned by Kohan, that doesn't give me a lot of hope. Oh Okay, so far it kind of feels dead. There was quite a few people here when I was here last. Is this Ashley? I like the style of it. Oh, you know what's funny? They had those same decorations up. The blow-up guys around the planters. Same guys. Calendars, toys, and games. Look at that. Mega fruit. Look how big. That's crazy. Look at that strawberry in there. There's the fountain. Yeah, it feels a lot more dead right now. I don't know if it's the time of day. At least they still have the fountain on. That actually was Elder Beerman. Oh my goodness. That is so cool. Come look at this fountain. Look at this. There's the Bluie gang. I'm almost positive that Ashley was the Elder Beerman. The last time it was really hard to film there. We had to do us a favor. All right. Wow, this place seems like it got worse. Yeah, I remember these spaces being covered up with the with the paintings. I remember that. Oh, did Osaka close? There's Sbarro. So, oh man, all they have is, uh, Sbarro and, um, Flory's, whatever, I don't know what that is. This place is going down. Marshalls, that looks good. Quaker Digital Academy. Any Flubby Pets. Maurice's, never fails. This is a dead wing. Eyeglass Shop. Lens Crafter. Here's a dead, And must have been a... I'm pretty sure that was open last time. That was open with something. I remember that. Yeah, this place, unfortunately, has gone a little downhill. Well, it is Monday. Okay, what? It's like Monday at like, I want to say 4 or 5 p.m. So that's probably not the greatest time to come. But I still feel as though, I feel like there was more places open before. Um, that had to be, it looks like it said JCPenney. What do you guys think of the Newtown Mall? Does it look dead to you? Because it looks dead to me. Uh, that's, that sucks. I guess, um, when I was here before, it was a Sunday, which is a better day for a mall. Uh, but I still feel like I see, I see more stores shut down. So even it being a Monday, I still have to say that it's Still seems dead. Yeah, this is one of the malls that has decent anchors. I mean, they have Dunham's, Kohl's, Marshall's. They have quite a few decent, like, smaller anchor stores like Dick's. They don't have anything, like, standard, like, JCPenney or anything left like that. but i could tell that the most of the traffic here comes to uh the the anchor stores you know and they don't come in they typically don't you know come in unless it's like the LensCrafters or and i remember that was open before too i see no one in here so i'm going to do restroom review this restroom is a dingy as a weird i'm going to give it a see it smells a little bit it's kind of dingy It's pretty clean though. All right, and that will complete my look at the Newtown Mall. I was going to say Spirit Halloween because I'm staring at it. That will complete my look at the Newtown Mall. That was the update for two years later. Let me know what you guys think. Yeah, and I'll see you in the next video.