One of dozens of former retail spaces now empty in Northern Lights Shopping Center, Beaver County
It’s a big room–maybe three thousand square feet. Where there used to be tile, the floor is now scraped clean, down to hard brown mastic. The walls and ceiling persist a very 1980s palette of hot mauve and battleship gray. Each side of the space still has one long set of track lighting, its bulbs intact, trained on the wall as if the space was most recently an art gallery or framing shop–possibly a dramatically-lit purveyor of boutique clothing or novelty gifts. At the back of the former store a single checkout island remains, its electric service dropped through conduit from the ceiling like a lifeline to the outside world.
This big empty space is a mystery–but it’s not alone. Pick a direction and there are many more like it: this one with colored tile and mirrored walls; that one with rectangular scars on the floor where heavy shelving used to be. An old A&P in glorious minty green and candy-apple red; an ex-Radio Shack with placards still advertising home theater, batteries, and wireless phones. In a former Chinese restaurant a grocery buggy is incongruously parked where diners used to eye up menu photos of Szechuan beef and General Tso’s Chicken.
ex-grocery (A&P, probably?)
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On November 1, 1956 an entirely new experience greeted citizens of the commonwealth. With some sixty-five retail spaces–many of them gigantic, sized for furniture or department stores–spread out over three separate, long, low-slung buildings and hosting free parking for four thousand automobiles[1], Northern Lights Shoppers City must have felt every bit of its believable claim as Pennsylvania’s Largest Shopping Center.
The new uber-plaza wasn’t in Philadelphia or its expansive suburbs, nor did it serve metro Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, or Harrisburg. It was located twenty-some miles northwest of us in Beaver County.
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The terrific all-things-Beaver County blog Ambridge Memories has a great post on the opening (and, seven months later, Grand Opening) of Northern Lights. In this pre-mall era[2], the “shoppers city” monicker (it would be renamed Northern Lights Shopping Center some time later) turns out to be remarkably on-target. Unlike indoor malls we’ve come to expect, Northern Lights opening array of retail reads like a quintessential Main Street for any small town in America.
In addition to mall staples like department stores, restaurants, shoes, clothing, cards and gifts, there were two pharmacies, three supermarkets (A&P, Kroger, and Star), plus a butcher, green grocer, and bakery. Northern Lights offerings also included a bank, furniture store, optometrist, appliances, laundromat, hardware, automotive, dry cleaner, and beauty salon.
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The little Ohio River town of Conway (pop. ~1,800 in the mid-1950s; a little larger today[3]) might seem a strange choice for the location of such a gigantic development. In fact, the footprint for Northern Lights is just about identical in acreage to Conway’s lower street grid. Imagine a shopping plaza equal in size to your entire home town, with parking for cars numbering twice the total population.
The location was inevitably aimed at drawing from the larger Ohio Valley region, then still booming with active mill towns. Conway sits just about half way between the substantially-larger Ambridge to the south and the quad cities of Rochester-Beaver-Beaver Falls-New Brighton to the north. Across the river and easily accessible are Aliquippa and Monaca.
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Today, it would be unfair to call Northern Lights a dead mall. There are definitely still enough open businesses to fill a lesser destination. Giant Eagle and a Wine & Spirits store alone make the location viable, but the shopping center also includes Dollar Tree, Napoli Pizza, and Avenue Boutique, a dialysis clinic, laundromat, a couple doctors’ offices, barber, and police substation.
But take a walk around and it won’t feel like Northern Lights’ property owners see a lot of future here. The former Ames (which was a Hills before that; we don’t know what the space opened as) is being readied for demolition with all the construction fence and heavy equipment to prove it. A number of glass storefronts are covered in protective plywood. Looking through the windows of other spaces yields an eerie view–not of available retail space, but rather one that reads as closed-and-left-town-in-the-night, leaving a pile of junk behind.
ex-Radio Shack
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There’s no one factor that led Northern Lights to this point. We know retail in general and shopping malls in particular have suffered for years. This is a national trend affecting city, suburb, and small town alike.
Northern Lights would have to deal with serious competition–first from the more modern Beaver Valley Mall (opened 1970), then The Internet. Couple that with the loss of thousands and thousands of well-paying steel industry jobs and the massive buying power they once provided all evaporating.in short order in the 1980s.
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Perhaps the cruelest plot point is that Northern Lights Shopping Center–itself a ruthless aggressor in the retail war with various Main Streets up and down the Ohio River Valley–was ultimately cannibalized by the same buy-cheap-and-convenient economic forces that brought it to life.
In 2014, WalMart opened a new megastore on the hillside just above the plaza, despite a major legal fight with Giant Eagle. The route to get there is a brand new road, created via eminent domain, right through the demolished space where J.C. Penny used to be[4]. If no one shops at Northern Lights anymore, at least they drive through its enormous parking lot to get to WalMart.
ex-Chinese restaurant
[1] Source: http://ambridgememories.blogspot.com/2013/11/northern-lights-shoppers-city-opening.html
[2] Actually, Southdale Center, the “world’s first modern shopping mall,” opened in 1956–the very same year as Northern Lights–in suburban Minneapolis. Source: https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-first-modern-shopping-mall-5114869
[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway,_Pennsylvania#Demographics
[4] Source: https://archive.triblive.com/news/pittsburgh-allegheny/work-on-wal-mart-supercenter-set-to-begin-in-beaver-county/
Pittsburgh Orbit 
The shopping center died because of lack of upkeep and investment by the owner of the property. J C Penny moved out first because of serious leaks that the owners refused to fix. It was the anchor store and others then followed.
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Jc Penny moved out to go to the mall. They shot themselves in the foot with all the competition there.
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Sears left before J.C.Penney.
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Would really love for someone to buy, remodel and move stores in there again. I know it would make it. The owner or owners didn’t want to fix anything. I heard they just had it as a Tax write off . There was so many people in Conway that could walk there especially the elderly from the towers and Conway residents.. This was a fantastic shopping center. COULD BE AGAIN!!!!!! And give Jobs to the residents of the area. 👏👍
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..so sad to me…
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We heard the owner of the Center isn’t interested in new businesses. They don’t follow through with merchants who have shown an interest. Probably the high tax write off
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Yes my eye dr tried to move there and no one will call her back. That’s terrible, we use to love going there shopping, dancing or dinner.
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People over think things. The simple truth is that NL is kinda in the middle of nowhere now. Which worked great when it was the only game in town, but…
Now anybody that lives more than a mile or 2 away, has better options in other directions. Be it Center or Cranberry. Ambridge itself is the only area left that NL was the best destination option for.
There were a few other issues in regards to NL’s anchor stores. Giant Eagle was a dump until recently. Easily the worst grocery store of the modern variety. Giant Eagle itself was every bit as culpable for pushing grocery sales in other directions. The other one was the demise of Hill’s dept store.
When Hill’s closed, Walmart in Center had not yet had such a firm grip on the region as it was still new. If Ames had managed to do a timlier takeover of Hill’s, thing might be better. Unfortunately, Ames somehow took 9 months to get doors back open. By then even Ambridge’s die hard crowd of unwilling travelers, had given up and embraced Walmart.
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When I was a kid in the 60’s fhe kart location was a Kressge’s
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Ann, The “kart” location?
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Very sad. Appears management doesn’t want business. The rates they want for space are not appropriate for there. There are run down and not a prime location any longer. If they can’t get a fortune, they will just take the write off.
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Something smells rotten about this whole situation. How come the councils from Economy,Conway and Baden aren’t applying pressure about development ? Where are the local
politicians ? Build it and they will come. It sure beats heading across the river to Center and all the Cracker workers and fighting the traffic on Freedom road to get to Cranberry to get something decent to eat and shop. Eminent domain that place and you would open the floodgates. Seems weird having a Wallmart there without any kind of store or restaurant close by.
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Whenever Economy was talking about building the Walmart they said that NL would “flourish”. That never happened, in fact more stores have closed. Shell coming to Beaver County isn’t changing that either. Maybe Shell can buy it LOL
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The Hills store was either a Grants or S.S. Kresge before it was Hills. One was at each end of the shopping center with J.C. Penney in the middle. Shopped at all three when I was a kid.
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Hills was Grant’s when it opened. Kresge was at the other end of that strip.
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Before it was Ames or Hills that location housed a Grants. I don’t think the store with the green and red walls was an A&P. All the stores were populated after A&P left Western PA.
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I believe the original grocery stores were a Thorofare and a Krogers.
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I think you are right Diane, I was quite young when NL opened but I don’t remember an A&P being there. My grandmother loved A&P and we had to go to Rochester to take her to one. I think Star came after Thorofare closed.
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I lived right behind Northern lights when it opened. On the south side was A&P which was next to the bank and then Krogers which was near Sun Drugs.
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The green and red interior is the vacant shop next to the state store. Its exterior features match the old Star Supermarket. The A & P may have been where the dialysis center is if it was by a bank. It’s next to Huntington Bank, which looks to be the old Freedom National Bank from an old picture.
Prwtty positive the green and pink tiled shop was a Dots (inexpensive teen girl clothes) in the early 90s.
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Can someone do a study on the tremendous tax breaks and incentives that are offered to the builders? After their tax free years run out, the owners are not of a mind to start paying high taxes and move on to build a newer and bigger place with newer and better tax breaks and incentives. It’s the business economic model we have in the US that’s causing this phenomenon all over. I would like to see someone doing a research study on this to explain it to the people who don’t understand what’s going on .
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I’d love to see that same study!
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At this point, the owner is just using it as a write-off. For someone to say it is in the middle of nowhere, it is not for people who live in the area. True, I could go to Cranberry, but why would I, it’s a nightmare out there and I would rather support local Beaver County businesses in Economy, Baden and Conway. The owner needs to just demolish everything and start over.
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Agreed that Northern Lights isn’t “middle of nowhere”–the towns are smaller, but the location is still right on Rt. 65 and there are plenty of people still in Ambridge and Beaver Valley.
I’d always rather see something get fixed-up and reused rather than “just demolish everything and start over,” but that’s me.
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From what I hear though those buildings are full of asbestos.
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I Agree with you Michelle 👏
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Would love to see a gym similar to Planet Fitness go in there, to have to go to the mall or towards cranberry especially during busy road times is beyond reasonable. Also would love to see maybe some sort of space open up so that schools baseball/softball teams could have an indoor practice facility to help keep kids practicing their sport but also out of trouble during off season. STM in Rochester is always booked and also not that great of a space. Some other family oriented stores or restaurants would also be nice.
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we at.”The Local Barbershop” are doing quite well thanks to hard work and our customers/friends. We also have been listening to scuttlebutt’ to varying degrees over the past 15 years and that’s a long time
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I agree that a fitness gym would be good in that area. As well as something family oriented. Years ago there skating rinks in several areas. It is too bad kids today can’t experience those fun times.
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There was a gym there and it didn’t last
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It’s sad, this could be such a boost to our neighboring towns and boost property values….if the owners don’t want to develop it, PLEASE sell it to someone who will!
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“this could be such a boost to our neighboring towns and boost property values…”
Yeah, that’s fantastic if you don’t mind your property TAXES going up by hundreds of dollars as a direct result! The more your house increase in value you more you’ll PAY!
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rd, It’s probably a stretch to suggest that a private property management company (the owners of the Northern Lights Shopping Center) cleaning up and renting out a few of their existing retail spaces is going to result in your property taxes going up by “hundreds of dollars”–I’m pretty sure that would already have happened when the county used eminent domain to accommodate Walmart–but maybe Beaver County operates in this unique way.
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I am a Owner of a Laundromat and wanted to buy the space or rent out the space where the old Laundromat is and i don’t even know who to contact or who to call. It would be great for the community and also the people that live there esp. in the high rise that depended on the shopping center because they thought it would always be there, are the people i feel bad for, many older people around there its a shame!
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Wow! I was able to see a photo of the Northern Lights Shopping Center on Google Maps … and it’s hard to believe that aren’t too many stores there. I was able to see a Walmart sign that’s behind one part of the shopping center.
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