{"id":67492,"date":"2025-12-22T12:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T12:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67492\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T12:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T12:34:15","slug":"with-new-giant-and-burlington-south-mall-finds-renewed-interest-from-shoppers-potential-tenants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67492\/","title":{"rendered":"With new Giant and Burlington, South Mall finds renewed interest from shoppers, potential tenants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean Gundry of Emmaus didn\u2019t frequently visit South Mall.<\/p>\n

But during her second visit on Tuesday to the new Giant supermarket at the shopping center on Lehigh Street in Salisbury Township, she said she expects go more often.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brand-new [and] it\u2019s clean,\u201d Gundry said.<\/p>\n

The reaction from Gundry and other shoppers is just one of the signs of renewed interest from shoppers and retailers in South Mall, the 400,000-square-foot shopping center that\u2019s undergone several redevelopments over the decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it,\u201d said shopper Teresa Fernandez of Allentown, finding the new Giant more organized and varied than the former store at 3015 W. Emaus Ave. in Allentown, which the new store replaced.<\/p>\n

Giant opened Nov. 21<\/a> at the former Bon-Ton space South Mall, and offers produce, meat, seafood, dairy, sushi, floral services, a bakery, a hot food bar, alcoholic beverages, an in-store pharmacy and 10 on-site fueling spaces.<\/p>\n

It joined the national discount retailer Burlington<\/a> that opened Nov. 1. and offers apparel, shoes, beauty products, accessories, home decor and toys.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Loch of Allentown told The Morning Call she appreciated the new Burlington for its accessible layout and good deals. Her husband Jacob mentioned he hasn\u2019t shopped as often at South Mall after GameStop closed there, but said he probably go more often now, especially as he finds the traffic at South Mall easier to navigate.<\/p>\n

\"Giant<\/p>\n

Giant store manager Mike Ramos stands in the produce section Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Shopper<\/p>\n

Shopper Jean Guidry of Emmaus shops for groceries Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Produce<\/p>\n

Produce is for sale Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People shop Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened Burlington in South Mall in Salisbury Township.
\n(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People shop Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Expanded<\/p>\n

Expanded food options are available Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Expanded<\/p>\n

Expanded food options are available Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Exterior of the newly opened Giant food store Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Exterior of Burlington on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Exterior of Burlington on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Burlington<\/p>\n

Burlington store manager Mary Kreit stands near popular holiday decor Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened store in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People shop Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened Burlington in South Mall in Salisbury Township.
\n(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Coats<\/p>\n

Coats line aisles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened Burlington in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"Coats<\/p>\n

Coats line aisles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened Burlington in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People shop Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at the newly opened Burlington in South Mall in Salisbury Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 17<\/p>\n

Giant store manager Mike Ramos stands in the produce section Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in the newly opened Giant food store at the South Mall in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Shoppers can enjoy easier traffic in part because of the improved entrance that South Mall finished within the last couple of months, according to James Balliet, president of leasing agency the James Balliet Property Group, which operates under Keller Williams Real Estate. Instead of letting visitors drive up through the shopping center, they now have to turn either left or right after entering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely [alleviated] some congestion too on the way out,\u201d said Balliet, who helps handle the South Mall leasing alongside agent Benjamin Diaz.\n<\/p>\n

The new Giant and Burlington follow a long history for South Mall, which current owner Nicholas Park Mall LLC<\/a> purchased from Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust in 2014. The shopping center began building out in the 1970s<\/a> and has seen many tenants come and go, including Bon-Ton, Hess\u2019s, Weis, Cave Brewing Co.<\/a> and Stein Mart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It now hosts other tenants<\/a> like A1 Japanese Steakhouse, Bath & Body Works, Fine Wine & Good Spirits, Ross Dress for Less and S & D Soulicious Cuisine.<\/p>\n

Through the years, South Mall has experienced both advantages and challenges with its operations, Balliet said.<\/p>\n

A big perk for the shopping center is its desirable location, he said, and access from the local highways and neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our world, it\u2019s called \u2018drive time,\u2019 \u201d Balliet said. \u201cWithin a 30-minute drive time, you can get to a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a shopper arrives at South Mall, they\u2019ll encounter two ways of entering a business. For those like Giant and Burlington, they can access them directly from the parking lot, but for others, people have to use the mall\u2019s primary indoor entrance.<\/p>\n

Balliet considers that kind of set-up \u2014 the enclosed mall \u2014 to be outdated and a hurdle.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot being able to access the store from the parking lot \u2026 it\u2019s a little bit of a deterrent in a lot of situations,\u201d he said, adding that one needs a compelling retailer to really make it work.<\/p>\n

Despite challenges, Balliet believes that the recent upgrades, especially Giant\u2019s opening, have changed the trajectory for South Mall, earning both renewed interest from potential regional and national retailers as well as increased customer foot traffic. He called Giant and Burlington the biggest openings since the days of Bon-Ton and Stein Mart, which closed in 2018 and 2020, respectively.<\/p>\n

Balliet said South Mall would need to eventually \u201creinvent\u201d itself to keep new tenants coming in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all comes down to traffic,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the retail world, it all comes down to getting people to the mall, and that\u2019s what Giant\u2019s doing right now. And Burlington, they\u2019re both doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the just-below-freezing temperature, that traffic was clear even on a recent Tuesday afternoon, as Giant\u2019s store manager Mike Ramos spoke to The Morning Call about the new store.<\/p>\n

A graduate of Easton High School, Ramos started with Giant as a cashier around 2007 and previously managed the Emaus Avenue store, which he said they eventually outgrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like the most is just the interaction through people,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cWe get a lot of people from all walks of life. I love being \u2026 I use the word \u2018nosy,\u2019 but \u2026 \u2018tell me about your culture. How do my culture and your culture relate? What do you do differently?\u2019 I just find so much enjoyment in that. So I think that\u2019s what kind of kept me around, just more so the people aspect of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding feedback from shoppers and people on social media, Ramos said, \u201cThey love the Giant. I think it\u2019s good for the community. They like that. Again, it\u2019s connected to the South Mall. It brings just that much more people back in the area. I got a lot of older folks who tell me, when they were kids, that they enjoyed going to the South Mall and then after a while, it kind of just died down. And they were really hoping that Giant can bring some life back into the area, which I think we have been doing that so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burlington Store Manager Mary Kreit has worked with the chain for about five years and previously worked at one in Pottstown.<\/p>\n

An Emmaus High School graduate, she used to shop at South Mall herself and called the shopping center a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d for the retailer, especially now in the midst of holiday shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love the people and just leading a team, working together and \u2026 honestly, it\u2019s all about the people,\u201d Kreit said. \u201cIf it weren\u2019t the people and even customers too, we wouldn\u2019t be here. We\u2019re here for them and we are part of the community too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salisbury Township Manager Cathy Gorman said she used to shop at South Mall herself, especially Bon-Ton, and is glad that Burlington and Giant have reinvigorated the shopping center. She also highlighted Giant\u2019s sponsorship for the township\u2019s Light Up Night<\/a> event last month at Franko Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the economic boost that [South Mall] gives to the area in general is a benefit to the township,\u201d she said. \u201cWe always welcome that. We\u2019d like to make sure that commercial property is available for reuse and redevelopment when appropriate and when needed. So obviously that mall had been, according to what I\u2019ve been told, vacated for some time with some small shops in there. So obviously we are grateful and happy to have them \u2014 Giant and Burlington \u2014 to come on board to fill up some space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jean Gundry of Emmaus didn\u2019t frequently visit South Mall. But during her second visit on Tuesday to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,60,433,182,28,436,2183,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-67492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-lehigh-county","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-retail","16":"tag-salisbury-township","17":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}