North Hills Flashback: The Expansion That Wasn't

At the corner of Washington Boulevard and Perry Highway sits a shopping plaza known as “Perry Shops”. It’s certainly not the largest plaza in all of Ross, nor is it the most interesting, being built from an old grocery store, but it does have some interesting history that never was behind it.

In the early 1990s, the plaza became what it is today. The liquor store, now known as “Wine and Spirits Shoppe”, served as the central piece, being the largest and the part which had formerly housed a grocer. Other shops were added at the plaza’s south end and the plaza itself gained a blue-gray theme and an illumined sign for its tenants where the old brown “liquor store” sign had once been. Tenants had packed the plaza by 1992, when this renovation was complete.

However, a developer saw more potential in the plaza. After all, the south end had been expanded. What about the north end?

A wine and spirits store will never attract the same crowd as a grocery store. The parking lot was clearly set up for one of those mad-dash week before Thanksgiving shopping marathons where every customer is jockeying for the worst available space because it’s the only space left. Why not scrap the extra parking and build a few new storefronts?

Sure enough, the idea came in 1993. A sign was placed on the plaza’s north end, promising a Perry Shops expansion for 1994.

I remember passing that plaza on December 31, 1994. The sign was still up, no construction had been made, and the plaza looked exactly as it did on December 31, 1993.

Believe it or not, the sign remained throughout 1995, yet no progress was made on expanding the Perry Shops. Nothing was done in 1996, either, yet the sign still hung on. By this point, I was beginning to wonder what would happen first--the rotting out of the sign or the expansion of Perry Shops.

Unbelievably, that sign clung on for all of 1997 and was still up well into 1998, at which point it was mercifully removed.

It’s been 15 years since that sign stood and 19 years since that expansion was said to have taken place. Aside from housing different tenants than it did when it was expanded in 1992, the plaza looks the same. What happened?

I have a few theories on why this plaza never quite made it.

1. Pines Plaza offered a better location for most stores due to what it had. It’s best to kill two birds with one stone (or take out three or four if possible). McIntyre Square was heavily promoting the “one stop shopping center” concept at the time (the video about the Giant Eagle store is proof of that; yes, I still have one back home and it’s worth a watch for its retro goodness). Its anchors in 1994 were Foodland and Thrift Drug (now Shop n Save and Rite Aid). Having a bowling alley, a gym, a bank, a coffee shop, and a Chinese restaurant certainly didn’t hurt either. (Amazingly, of these five businesses, only two--Pines Plaza Lanes and Great Wall--bear the same names as they did 19 years ago). Smaller stores and offices could claim a spot in the arcade if need be. Others could take up space next to viable tenants like a paint store, a jeweler, or a carpet warehouse. Perry Shops had a wine and spirits store--a business many people frequent, just not as often as they do a regular grocer--along with a few beauty-related businesses. (A pizza shop and Irish dance school have since been among the tenants of Perry Shops).

2. The size of the stores would have been tiny. This would work fine for a tailor shop, but not for, say, an auto supply store. Retail spaces were growing exponentially in size by the mid-1990s. One store next to the wine and spirits shoppe would have been all that could have been built while allowing for ample parking and a decent-size storefront. Would it be better to get one store that may or may not stay or a bunch of smaller storefronts that may not even be filled?

3. The intersection is tough to get out of. There are no protected turns and Washington Boulevard is tough to deal with due to its hill. Pines Plaza is far safer since traffic on Trion is easy enough to notice. (Note, however, that the protected right turn signal from Pines was not installed until 2002, eight years after the proposed expansion).

4. Cash. We don’t know for sure how much the developer had, but they could have been investing in other projects that would have yielded a greater reward. Perhaps the developer ran out entirely. We may never know for sure.

Now for a few theory that has been proven false: township boundaries. The Ross/McCandless line begins at the “signal ahead” sign on southbound 19 approaching Washington Boulevard. Line this up with Perry Shops and you’ll find it aligns almost perfectly.

Another minor detail that has bothered me since the day the new sign was installed: inconsistency with spelling. The plaza is called “Perry Shops” yet right underneath that sign is a sign for the “Wine and Spirits Shoppe”. Someone please remind me why we have two ways to spell this word in our language, then work on consistency with this plaza. It’s been driving me nuts for 21 years and still drives me nuts even though I currently live 480 miles south of said sign.

It’s hard to imagine what could have been if the plaza was indeed expanded. Perhaps another business would have moved in, clearing a spot on 19 for some other venture or freeing up a parcel next to a vacant building for the purpose of building anew. I’d love to hear some feedback on this, especially in regard to the “could have beens” surrounding this plaza.