North Hills Flashback: McIntyre Square

It’s been a while since we’ve taken a trip back in time, so fasten your seatbelts as we journey back to 1991, a year which changed the retail landscape of the North Hills.

Ross Park Mall celebrated its fifth birthday and had cemented its place in the economy by that point in time. Anchored by Kaufmann’s, Horne’s, Sears, and JC Penney, all signs indicated the mall had successfully created a modern shopping environment north of the city, one conducive to retaining tenants and attracting customers. Traffic remained a concern, yet the “new mall” had become “the mall”.

North Hills Village had re-invented itself as a value-based center, led by Hill’s and flanked by Marshall’s and Burlington Coat Factory. The flexibility of the design of the mall itself led to a prime destination for those looking to get a bang for their buck, whether it be on a tuxedo rental (Top Hat) or craft supplies (Leewards). Applebee’s had opened their new restaurant on the outparcel in May of that year, giving families a new choice for a good, all-American dinner.

Further north, things weren’t looking so hot at Northway Mall. Value City and Dahlkemper’s provided a decent combination where Horne’s had once been, but the new food court didn’t add much in the way of traffic. While it was still the place to go for a cheap movie (Super Saver Cinemas 8), a refill on a prescription (Thrift Drug), a new ball peen hammer (Northway Mall Hardware), or a pennant to celebrate the Penguins’ first Stanley Cup (Rich’s Dugout Sportscards), the loss of Woolworth was significant. Stores in the mall had simply become too old and inflexible to accommodate the new breed of retail developing across America. New tenants wouldn’t fit well in the old Woolworth space, nor would they be a good bet in the vacant 1962-sized retail stores popping up along the corridors. The writing was on the wall--significant modifications would need to be made for the mall to continue to survive. (This actually happened in the mid-1990s, although Northway is on death’s door for reasons I have already covered in past articles on this site).

Elsewhere on McKnight Road, the Blazier Drive K-Mart was quickly becoming too big for its britches. Phar-Mor at the old Zayre Plaza (rechristened Ross Towne Center) was bursting at its seams as Mickey Monus’s brainchild expanded beyond cheap drugstore items. Retailers and restaurants wanting a slice of the wallets of North Hills consumers looked for a place to go following the construction and quick occupation of Ross Park Mall, although most simply couldn’t find a place thanks to the bizarre geography and most shopping centers being occupied (by stores selling goods other than mattresses, no less) or unsuitable in terms of size.

Enter McIntyre Square. The project began to take shape in 1990, when plans to build upon the former site of the Gumbert School took shape. Office Max became the first anchor to sign a lease in the new L-shaped building to be constructed near the former Kaufmann’s, which had recently been divided into a Giant Eagle, Builder’s Square, and several smaller stores. New to the area at the time, Office Max would go head-to-head against Office Depot, a recent construction on the outparcel of Zayre Plaza next to the old Children’s Palace.

Olive Garden, also new to the North Hills, was the real headliner of the day. Residents who complain about a lack of sit-down restaurants along McKnight Road today had even more reasons to gripe 22 years ago when the choices were limited to Red Lobster, Pizza Hut, Monte Cello’s, Denny’s, Bob Evans, Eat ‘n Park (times two), TGI Friday’s, Chili’s, Chi-Chi’s, Applebee’s (the new kid on the block), Nickelby’s (which burnt down shortly after McIntyre Square opened), The Italian Oven, Juno Trattoria, and Dingbats. While the list certainly wasn’t bad, especially for a family dinner or brunch with some golf buddies, it definitely lacked a solid “bourgeoisie” restaurant for that special event, hot date, or important client meeting.

Soon thereafter, others began to jump on the McIntyre Square bandwagon. Phar-Mor and K-Mart announced plans to move from their old locations to become the other two anchors of the new building. Smaller shops such as GNC, Fashion Bug, and Betsy Ann Chocolates took leases, hoping to join the “hip strip mall” of the North Hills, which saw stores open in the fall of 1991. (Of those three smaller stores, only GNC survives to this day).

The former Kaufmann’s building and Tire America (now NTB), located on its outparcel, would become part of the new plaza five years after the department store departed, as would some banks constructed along Peebles Road (both a Mellon and a Dollar). Outparcel construction would continue throughout the 1990s. A large PNC Bank branch opened nearest the Kaufmann’s building. Hotlicks became the second restaurant along the stretch, opening next to Olive Garden. Blockbuster Music and Don Pablo’s would follow.

Stores came and went. Among the highlights from throughout the years: Holcomb’s (now closed), Subway, China Star, Saville’s (formerly at Northway Mall and now closed), Fitness 19, $9.99 Stock Room (now closed), Hallmark, Children’s Orchard (now closed), Burton’s Total Pet, and Singer/Specs (now Family Eye Care, which is currently in the former Blockbuster Music building). Office Max expanded to include CopyMax, a full-service copying center adjacent to the main store. K-Mart became Big K-Mart in 1997 (only in name; it’s the same size as it was in 1991) and survived the mass downsizing of the chain’s stores in the 2000s.

Phar-Mor departed in 2002 when the chain went under. Its replacement was Festival Foods, which couldn’t compete with Giant Eagle and was filed under “forgotten grocery stores” as soon as Gabriel Brothers took over the space in 2006. (Festival also had a store in Wexford where Food 4 Less had been; the chain continues to operate 18 stores today in the state of Wisconsin).

Hotlicks became Mr. Jones by 1996, which converted to Saybrook Fish House in 1997. Unfortunately, it did not fare well, causing the building to sit for a few years until The Original Pancake House opened in 2002, continuing to thrive to this day.

Blockbuster Music didn’t last and became the second home of Chuck E. Cheese in the North Hills, seven years after it left the old Dahlkemper’s building at the corner of Perry Highway and Pine Creek Road. Don Pablo’s, which left due to rent increases, became the home of Emiliano’s in 2006. Sadly, Emiliano’s closed earlier this year (although there are still restaurants in Cranberry and Richland for those willing to travel a bit). The building currently is owned by Giant Eagle and is sitting around awaiting its fate. (Ten bucks says it’s another mattress store).

Changes occurred in the Kaufmann’s building over time. The Giant Eagle store, which was a relocation of the old North Hills Village location, was cutting edge for its day and included a classroom for aspiring cooks, video rental store (Iggle Video), floral department, Mellon bank branch, pharmacy, and prepared foods (notable early entries in this department were the Pizza Pizzazz and Wok & Run counters). The presence of Amarraca (as well as The Food Gallery in Shadyside) forced the chain to experiment with these sort of stores. (Today, most Giant Eagles include all of these amenities aside from the video rental departments and cooking classrooms; the classroom later became an early Eagle’s Nest). Giant Eagle took over several former smaller stores to expand its operations as time went by. A liquor store was always a fixture at the plaza, although it originally was in a much smaller space before locating to its current spot at the north end (which was originally an auto parts store). Learning Express had a store in the plaza in the mid-1990s as well.

Builder’s Square, the former lower level of Kaufmann’s, was a victim of a corporate bankruptcy in 1999. It sat vacant for seven years until a dollar store moved in. Amazingly, this dollar store failed, just a few years after a dollar store met its demise on the former upper level next to Giant Eagle. Unbelievably, third dollar store failed in a space near OfficeMax. This category typically thrives, especially in value-focused locations such as McIntyre Square, which was touted in a 1993 promotional video for Giant Eagle as a place to “save time, save gas, and save money”.

The lower level of Kaufmann’s is currently divided between Dunham’s Sports, which re-entered the market after leaving North Hills Village during the mall’s retooling, and Stein Mart, new to the area when it opened in 2007.

What sort of impact has this shopping center had over its 22 years of operation? For starters, it began a trend of big box retailers coming to the area. The success of the OfficeMax/K-Mart/Phar-Mor team led to smaller retailers moving in to supplement these stores. In turn, North Hills Village began to transform into a big box mall just five years later (after more customers began to frequent McIntyre Square for all the reasons the Giant Eagle pitchman mentioned in that video). Ross Park Mall moved more upmarket as the niches became clear--McIntyre Square was the new value destination while North Hills Village was the big box center of the area. 

Thanks to McIntyre Square, Northway Mall had to reinvent itself once again to attract tenants. While it did bring in some notable names in the mid-1990s, it couldn’t retain them, mostly due to a lack of management and a lack of flexibility due to the 1960s design (which, in turn, is an adaptation of a 1953 strip mall with an upstairs attachment). The modern design of the stores at McIntyre Square has made them more appealing to anyone looking to set up a shop in a larger mall.

In a day and age when strip malls usually have several vacancies, McIntyre Square has done remarkably well. While there are some empty storefronts, it doesn’t suffer the same problem as many plazas have since the recession began thanks to a good mix of stores, solid outparcels, access to public transit, and a location easily accessible from both a major highway and plenty of residential neighborhoods. Its next test will be the further expansion of McCandless Crossing. As long as McIntyre Square focuses on value and retaining existing tenants, its future will be bright.