Monroeville Mall

Monroeville Mall is a two-level shopping mall 12.6 miles (20.3 km) west of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between Mall Circle Drive, William Penn Highway and Mall Boulevard in Monroeville, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The mall currently has four open anchors which are JCPenney, Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods and Cinemark.
== Mall History ==
Monroeville Mall opened to the public on May 13, 1969, developed by Oxford Development. Its original anchors included Gimbel's, Horne's, and JCPenney. The mall contained 125 stores on two levels, featuring a G.C. Murphy store and the Ice Palace, a skating rink within the mall. Decorated with fountains and flourishing plant life under enormous skylights, the mall boasted distinctive features.
The Gimbel's court showcased a large yellow clock tower housing 12 animated puppets, each representing an ethnic group in the Pittsburgh area. At the Horne's end of the mall, a large circular fountain surrounded by a seating area adorned the court.
During the 1970s, additional buildings were erected outside the mall, including a movie theater, a Marriott hotel, and a freestanding Montgomery Ward store. A mall annex was built directly behind, featuring an A&P supermarket. In February 1984, the Ice Palace Skating Rink was replaced with a food court. Gimbel's closed in August 1986, expanding into a three-level store, eventually replaced by Kaufmann's in August 1987.
The A&P closed in 1992, replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory in 1993. Borders Books opened in the mall annex in 1993, followed by Dick's Sporting Goods in 1995, OfficeMax in 1998, and LensCrafters in 1999. In the early 1990s, the clock tower was dismantled for a stage, which has since been removed. The fountain at the opposite end was replaced in the early 2000s with a children's play area themed to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Horne's was renamed Lazarus in 1994. The movie theater was demolished in 1998, replaced by a Best Buy store in 1999. In February 2005, Lazarus became a Macy's store. Kaufmann's closed in 2005, replaced by Boscov's in August 2006, only to close in October 2008.
In July 2004, CBL Properties purchased Monroeville Mall, adding a lifestyle expansion outside the North Entrance known as The Village. In September 2012, JCPenney relocated to the second and third floors of the former Boscov's. The first floor became an H&M in September 2013, and the second floor was converted into a Cinemark theater in November 2013. In August 2014, Dick's Sporting Goods moved inside the mall to the first floor of the former Boscov's.
It was announced that Primark will be opening a store at Monroeville Mall in mid 2024.
== 2015 Shooting ==
On February 7, 2015, a juvenile later identified as 17-year-old Tarod Thornhill entered the men's department on the lower level of Macy's department store about 7:30 p.m. and shot his intended target and two bystanders, leaving two with critical injuries. Victims were sent to nearby Forbes Hospital. Among the witnesses were NFL Wide Receiver Terrelle Pryor, who tweeted about the incident afterward.
As a result of this incident, the mall has instituted a youth escort policy which requires all youths 18 and under to be escorted by a parent or guardian 21+ on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to close.
Mall management, Monroeville police, and Allegheny County have pledged to work together to secure the future of the mall and the community by implementing further security measures, which "will include — but not be limited to — increased installation of security cameras and video surveillance." Despite the negative attention the mall has received, municipal leaders continue to stress that "Monroeville Mall is a very safe, family-oriented," destination which continues to anchor the largest concentration of businesses and commerce in the eastern suburbs of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area.
== Dawn of the Dead (1978) ==
In 1977, George A. Romero began filming Dawn of the Dead on location at the Monroeville Mall. All filming inside the mall took place at night after the mall had closed, with filming often continuing until dawn. Filming inside the mall began in October 1977, but had to be suspended when Christmas decorations were hung shortly after Thanksgiving. Filming resumed in January 1978, after the decorations were moved. It was during that break that much of the mall's exterior shots were filmed. The mall currently has The Living Dead Museum located inside.
Category:Malls in Pennsylvania
Category:Filming locations
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Malls that opened in 1969
Category:Pittsburgh Area Malls
Category:Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Category:Enclosed Malls
Category:JCPenney-anchored Malls
Category:Macy's-anchored Malls
Category:Dick's-anchored Malls
Category:Cinemark-anchored Malls
Category:CBL Malls
Category:Former Kaufmann's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Gimbels-anchored Malls
Category:Former Horne's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Lazarus-anchored Malls