Monroeville Mall - Anchor Stores

Anchor Stores

In 1969, the Monroeville Mall opened with The Joseph Horne Company, Gimbels, and Penney's (now JC Penney) as the original anchors.

In 1970, the entire Gimbels chain was purchased by the tobacco conglomerate BATUS. In 1986, after years of declining sales, BATUS announced that Gimbels was on the block. Unable to find a buyer for the entire chain, BATUS closed down the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division, selling or closing all locations. Some of the more attractive mall locations, such as Monroeville Mall, were taken over by the St. Louis based May Department Stores Company for its Pittsburgh based Kaufmann's division. This effectively caused the shuttering of the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division. The Monroeville Mall location was closed and completely renovated, including adding a third floor, before reopening as Kaufmann's. In 2006, when The May Department Stores Company was purchased by Cincinnati based Federated Department Stores, this store was acquired by Boscov's as Macy's was already located in the former Horne's spot at the opposite end of the mall. In October 2008, Boscov's closed their Monroeville store as part of a restructuring plan within the company.

The Joseph Horne Company (owned by the New York City based Associated Dry Goods Corporation) operated in Monroeville Mall until 1994. In October 1986, The May Department Stores Company merged with Associated Dry Goods Corporation. May promptly sold The Joseph Horne Company to a group of local investors. In 1995, Federated Department Stores acquired Horne's and renamed all former locations under its own Lazarus regional nameplate. In 2005, Federated eventually merged all its divisions (including the former Joseph Horne/Lazarus locations) into Macy's as part of a nationwide rebranding program.

CBL announced in 2011 that J.C. Penney will relocate to the former Boscov's building and a new movie theater will be built on the J.C. Penney's current occupation.