Remembering the Schuylkill Mall

By Rhiannon Barkus

 

 

 

 

The Schuylkill Mall in Frackille, PA opened in October of 1980 with about 800,000 square feet designed in a “T” shaped pattern, according to information on Wikipedia.

The mall was once a mecca for local teens to hang out and socialize, and it was a great place to shop. Today, many stores in the mall have closed, but memories of its heyday live on.

Coal Cracker asked our readers to send us their reminiscences.

David Huebner, former United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa

I was a frequent visitor to the mall because of the movie theater and the pinball arcade. My favorite store was Chess King. I remember buying a gauze shirt, bell bottoms, a brown leather jacket (which I don’t think was real leather), and other horrors there in the early 80s. I think that I still have the leather jacket (with epaulets and a Mao collar, no less), although my spouse has tried to toss it several times over the years because it really does look silly now.

Robyn Vicic Consugar

My folks owned a store called Charlie Chan Restaurant. It was one of the first to open in the Schuylkill Mall. While they were preparing the store, my brother David and I were bored while going up there with my parents every night. The mall floor was bare concrete at that time, so David and I took our roller skates and skated around the mall hundreds of times!