My Pilgrimage to King of Prussia

Visit King of Prussia with me (a Flickr photoset with 63 photos)

On Saturday, May 28, 2005, I had the pleasure of visiting King of Prussia, a super-regional mall located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, approximately 17 miles northwest of Philadelphia's Center City. It's currently the third largest mall in the country. My pilgrimage to this retail wonderland occurred during my recent East Coast tour that included stints in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

The mall's current slogan is "Life. And All Its Stores." They're not just whistling dixie...the complex boasts over 400 stores and restaurants. There's something for everybody; its retailers range from Sears to Neiman Marcus, from Eckerd Drugs to Tiffany, and from Old Navy to Versace.

The history of King of Prussia speaks to the evolution of shopping malls and the retailing business over the years. It was originally developed by the Kravco company, which still owns the mall today (it is now known as Kravco Simon). The Plaza at King of Prussia, the oldest portion of the complex, opened in 1963 as a modest open-air shopping mall anchored by JCPenney (then known as Penney's), discount department store E.J. Korvette, and an ACME supermarket. The Plaza prospered and by the late 1970's had become a partially enclosed super-regional mall anchored by department stores JCPenney, Gimbel's, and John Wanamaker.

Kravco recognized a demand for more upscale shopping in the northwest Philadelphia market in the late 1970's. The company embarked on a second mall, The Court at the King of Prussia, to be constructed across the street from The Plaza. The Court opened in 1981 as a fully enclosed mall anchored by department stores Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Abraham & Strauss (A&S). In addition, Sears was added to The Plaza around this time.

By the early 1990's, demand for luxury goods had grown across the nation and many upscale retailers were in a growth mode. Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom were all looking for new locations in the area, and Kravco didn't want any of them to land at a competing mall. The company's dillema, though, was that The Court was on a small piece of land and couldn't expand, while The Plaza was too downscale for these stores. Kravco decided to embark on an ambitious camapign to almost competely rebuild The Plaza to make it just as attractive to upscale retailers as The Court and to begin marketing the two malls as a single entity (a pedestrian bridge and walkway connecting the malls was constructed around this time).

The new Plaza is fully enclosed and has two levels throughout. Lord & Taylor opened its doors in the fall of 1995, while Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom opened theirs in the spring of 1996. Here are floorplans of The Plaza before and after its reconstruction (click on them to see larger images):

Upscale stores at The Plaza are clustered in the southern end of the mall near Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom, while middle-market stores remain clustered in the northern end of the mall near JCPenney, Sears, and Strawbridge's. The Court consists entirely of upscale stores.

The anchor line-up at both malls changed during the 1990's. Stern's, which had replaced Gimbel's, left and JCPenney moved in to its old space. John Wanamaker was acquired by May Department Stores, which rebranded all Wanamaker's as Hecht's, their Baltimore-Washington regional nameplate. A&S was consolidated with Macy's and Strawbridge & Clothier briefly took its place at The Court. Soon after, May acquired Strawbridge & Clothier, rebranded it as simply Strawbridge's, and merged it with Hecht's Philadelphia operations. The Hecht's (former John Wanamaker) at The Plaza became a Strawbridge's and the Strawbridge's (former A&S) at The Court closed.

The growth of large-format specialty retailers in the 1990's led to the conversion of the fromer Strawbridge's store at The Court into The Pavilion, which might be considered the "third mall" at King of Prussia. The Pavilion consists of a small mall directly connected to The Court but is not owned by Kravco. Tenants at The Pavilion include The Cheesecake Factory, Borders, H&M, Urban Outfitters, and Morton's: The Steakhouse.

Here's an aerial photograph of the mall as it appears today that I snatched from Google Earth and appended to show the location of the department store anchors. To see a larger view, click on the picture or this link.

Today, King of Prussia is anchored by eight department stores: Bloomingdale's, JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Sears, and Strawbridge's. It contains an astounding 2,620,000 square feet of gross leasable area. That figure doesn't include The Pavilion since it's not owned by Kravco -- if it did, the total would jump to 2,850,000 million square feet, officially making King of Prussia the largest mall in the country. By the way, the mall currently holding the "nation's largest" title is South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, which contains 2,800,000 million square feet of gross leasable area (like King of Prussia, it is actually two different malls connected by a pedestrian bridge).

The Strawbridge's at The Plaza is set to close next year as a result of the merger between Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores. Federated will still have three stores at the mall: Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, and Macy's. The exit of Strawbridge's isn't a cause of concern for Kravco Simon, which knows there are plenty of other stores that would like to be in one of the nation's most successful malls. The most obvious contender for the space is Boscov's, a regional department store chain that has locations at other Philadelphia area malls. The space could also go to Target or a combination of smaller big box retailers, or it could be carved up into smaller stores.

I brought my digital camera to King of Prussia in order to document it as I had documented Woodfield almost a year earlier. I took a lot of photographs of the exterior as well as the interior. I've uploaded dozens of photos to my space on Flickr, but allow me to share some of them here as well.

The department stores at King of Prussia are fairly unremarkable structures, as most department stores at most malls are. The shining exception is Bloomingdale's, pictured above. I'm sure this building represented the epitome of style in 1981. I have much love for Bloomie's delightfully retro logo too:

The food court at The Plaza seems to be the only part of the mall that wasn't renovated in the 1990's. Even the furniture is quite dated.

This photo shows the interior of The Court.

This photo shows the interior of The Pavilion, which is attached to The Court.

This photo shows the walkway from The Court to The Plaza.

A freestanding Crate & Barrel operates in the parking lot of The Plaza near Nordstrom. I'm assuming there wasn't enough space inside the mall for the large store Crate & Barrel wanted to have.

The interior of The Plaza is even nicer than the interior of The Court. This photo was taken in the Lord & Taylor court -- Tiffany is straight ahead on the upper level.

This impressive elevator and clock tower stands in the JCPenney court. A large Old Navy store sits at the left, on the upper level.

The beautiful "Cafe Court" sits in the middle of The Plaza. Here's a view of the stained-glass skylight above my head at this point:

No department store is as posh as Neiman Marcus -- only the most exclusive specialty stores line its court at The Plaza.

So long, Strawbridge's -- the oldest name in Philadelphia retailing is on its way out and this store will be closing next year.

Visit King of Prussia with me (a Flickr photoset with 63 photos)

If you're ever in Philly, do not pass this mall up! Not only is its size impressive, but so is the breadth of stores and restaurants you can find there. It's like no other mall in the world. In conclusion, they ought to rename it King of Malls!

Official King of Prussia Web Site