Julie Ravotti grew up in Beaver County and remembers trekking to Pittsburgh Mills for family shopping adventures after the Frazer mall opened in 2005.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe traveled to see all the new stores and it was bustling, so promising,\u201d said Ravotti, who moved nine years ago to Leechburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cFast forward to now and as the stores close one by one, it\u2019s been really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Macy\u2019s becomes the latest company to announce its departure from the Mills, shoppers on Friday digested the news with reactions that ranged from grief to hope.<\/p>\n
Quincy Shea thinks there\u2019s opportunity in the massive retail space just off Route 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should put a casino in this space and it will revitalize the economy,\u201d Shea said.<\/p>\n
The Springdale resident cited the Live Casino at Westmoreland Mall, saying the entertainment venue has done wonders for the Greensburg area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last thing we need is an empty mall for 20 years and more empty lots and storefronts,\u201d Shea said. \u201cWalmart and Sam\u2019s will not hold that area down forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macy\u2019s is among two remaining anchors, along with Mac.bid, at the Mills. About 20 smaller stores that include a newsstand and an Amish furniture showroom remain among 140 vacant spaces. The food court is also completely empty.<\/p>\n
Macy\u2019s leaders said the store will close by spring.<\/p>\n
Scott Smith, manager at New Dimension Comics which has operated for 16 years at the Mills, said he wasn\u2019t surprised by Macy\u2019s impending closure.<\/p>\n
He also isn\u2019t worried that it will impact his store\u2019s revenues, saying his customers come to the mall purposely to hold \u201cin hand\u201d their comics, games and collectibles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an awesome customer base who come to our store as a destination,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a great year because a lot of our customers come to the mall just to see us. People like being among other collectors and talking about their finds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other stores inside the mall also appear to be destinations \u2014 GQT Cinemas, TJ Buffet Sushi and Grill, Pittsburgh Reptile Show and Z Corner newsstand. The mall\u2019s website announced that the Easter Bunny will arrive April 4, an event that draws a specific demographic.<\/p>\n
Ravotti said she\u2019ll continue to frequent the mall because her 5-year-old daughter enjoys the indoor play space but her afternoon shopping dates at Macy\u2019s, followed by lunch at Panera will be just a memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will just be a dark corner,\u201d she said. \u201cTeens and kids around here will never know the excitement of a bustling shopping mall, with the beautiful Christmas decorations and just the excitement of walking around with friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we can drive to Ross Park but it\u2019s not the same as that backyard mall that we were used to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naydo Nance of Pittsburgh was thinking something similar as she stood outside Macy\u2019s at the Monroeville Mall on Friday afternoon \u2014 except she\u2019s not too interested in driving out to the McKnight Road corridor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m petite, and I can shop for mens\u2019 clothing and cologne at Macy\u2019s,\u201d Nance said. \u201cI don\u2019t really do any shopping online \u2014 I\u2019m \u2018young-old-fashioned.\u2019 If they close this one, I\u2019d have to go out to Ross Park Mall and I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tisha Fiore of Monroeville was also shopping at the mall\u2019s Macy\u2019s on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t come here all the time, it depends on what I need,\u201d Fiore said. \u201cBut they have a good selection of makeup that you can\u2019t always find elsewhere. I think Macy\u2019s has more up-to-date stuff as opposed to a Burlington or Marshall\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
People on social media Friday lamented the news, especially since the Alle-Kiski Valley lacks options for clothes shopping other than Walmart, second-hand stores and boutiques.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really disheartening to see Macy\u2019s closing in our area, especially knowing how much older residents and long\u2011time shoppers have relied on it over the years,\u201d one user said. \u201cBeyond the economic impact, it leaves a real gap in everyday life because there are fewer convenient places to quickly pick up an outfit or something needed on short notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shoppers will be forced to join the online movement or drive at least 30 minutes to Ross Park, Monroeville or Westmoreland malls. But for some, the distance is a deterrent.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoss Park isn\u2019t close for some of us,\u201d a Facebook post from a Vandergrift resident read. \u201cTarentum was convenient. We have to travel 45 minutes to go shopping now. Doesn\u2019t seem like a long time for some but for others, that\u2019s a lot. Especially if something is needed quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source triblive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Julie Ravotti grew up in Beaver County and remembers trekking to Pittsburgh Mills for family shopping adventures after the Frazer mall opened in 2005. \u201cWe traveled to see all the new stores and it was bustling, so promising,\u201d said Ravotti, who moved nine years ago to Leechburg. \u201cFast forward to now and as the stores […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2228841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shoppers-lament-Macys-closing-others-hopeful-for-recreation-or-entertainment.JPG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2228842,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228840\/revisions\/2228842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}